A New Pact
by ChromaticStasis
Summary: What if Archer and Rin made a new pact after the Fifth Holy Grail War? Rated M for adult/explicit content
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: What happens if after the Grail is destroyed, things went differently? What if Archer made a new pact with Tohsaka?**

**Explicit content. Do not continue unless you are 18 years of age or older.**

It had been the last thing Rin Tohsaka would have expected of this war.

First, her Servant defected. Then, he kidnapped her. _Insurance,_ he'd called it. She was a meat shield. While she was in his captivity, tied hands and feet to a damned wooden chair, she had been bargained away by the bastard, to one of her classmates, _Shinji_, who tried his very best to grope and intimidate her, going so far as to wrap his scrawny, weakling hands around her throat. Then, _Lancer_ shows up and quips his way through handling Shinji until the would-be rapist ran away from the shallowest of cuts to his chest.

Now, she somehow found herself on the back of what she could only guess was an enormous mass of tumors, on a solo rescue mission for that same scared weakling. She sneered to herself as she hauled the unconsscious man out of the monstrosity, its many limbs reaching for them both.

_Disgusting._

She had not made it too far, when the mass erupted and enveloped both her and Shinji, the latter still uncinscious. They were being pressed, suffocated in the pockets of the manifestation of this Holy Grail.

_Not like this._ Tohsaka struggled to get free, but she didn't know where to go. Her hearing started to muffle. Her lungs started to burn, and she'd lost feeling in her legs. She laid her head down, at a loss for what to do as her strength drained entirely from her.

Archer's voice rang out, echoing in her mind. Or was that her brain's last grasp for something before it died of oxygen deprivation?

Chaos. The creature she'd been nearly crushed to death within broke violently apart, snding her and her classmate flying. They crashed to the ground, Tohsaka rapidly regaining her sight and hearing, just in time to hear Saber shouting for her to get clear. Gritting her teeth and summoning her strength, she hauled Shinji over her shoulder and trudged across the open field. Out of time, strength, and mana, she raised her hand and shouted to Saber, deploying her final command seal to fuel Saber with its power, ordering her to obliterate the grail.

The world tilted and Tohsaka fell again, the last of her strength gone. Still, she forced herself to watch Saber perform the killing blow, the Excalibur noble phantasm shattering and powdering the Grail to nothing more than dust.

"Victory is yours, Rin," she heard Saber say, before the heroic spirit faded away.

"I want to make a new pact with you," she spoke frankly, standing at the cliff's edge with Archer.

Archer turned away. "I can't. It wouldn't be allowed. Besides, I no longer have a goal. Like it or not, my battle ends here." 

Tohsaka's eyes widened, tears beginning to touch the corners of her eyes. A rush of emotion crashed through her. She set her face into a firm scowl, masking the torrent welling up inside. "And what does that have to do with me?" Her voice was composed, but only just. Archer turned back to her, jaw slackened at the reply he wasn't expecting. Tohsaka took a dangerous half-step forward. "I did what was needed here. I won this damned war. The World owes me a wish, damn it." Her tone was rising, voice becoming more rough.

"Tohsaka?" Archer held his ground. Where was all this coming from? She seemed angry, but behind that was another emotion, difficult to pin down. He elected to watch her, allow her to have her say. Though his mana stores were draining, he managed to will himself to stay where he was.

"After everything you did," she took another step forward, her shoulders relaxed, but her fists and jaw clenched. "All that mind fucking you did. You honestly think I'm going to let you leave here?" She was walking towards him now, slowly, but with a purpose. "I am the head of the Tohsaka family. That burden was shoved onto me ten years ago, because my father died in this stupid war." She was only a few feet from him now.

Archer brought his hands up defensively. He was unclear on what she was getting at. Did she really want to keep him, for the purpose of chewing him out? She would spend that much mana to keep him manifested on this plane, because of that?

No. It had to be something else, too. As she drew closer, he could see. She wasn't truly angry with him. The object of her ire was the World, itself. If anyone had a good reason to despise the World, apart from Archer himself, it was Rin Tohsaka.

She stayed on her spot those few feet away, suddenly very calm. "Make a new pact with me." It wasn't a question.

Archer stared her down. He must have worn a scowl, too, because her expresion shifted slightly from composure to another flash of an expression, gone as quickly as it arose. Was that worry?

"Rin," he started, unsure of what to say. A heavy pause lingered between them, and he sighed gently. "You had enough mana to supply Saber _and_ that idiot." He rubbed the back of his neck, as though trying to dust off the doubts.

"Kirei did it for Goldie. I will do it for you." It wasn't an offer. She was simply telling him what was going to happen next. Archer's spine straightened a little bit. He looked at her again, searching for signs of her own doubts. He found none.

Of course he found no doubts. This was Rin. She was sure of everythng she'd ever done.

Archer was intrigued. "All right," he said plainly. "It sounds as if I don't have a choice," he mused, giving a resigned shrug.

Tohsaka balked briefly. "That wasn't what I..."

"Relax," he offered. "You do know what you're doing. I'm just confused. Why? You don't mean to keep me for a pet?" He teased her a little, flashing the small, insolent smirk he knew got under her skin.

"We can talk about that later," she fixed her gaze on him again. She didn't even bat an eyelash from his pet comment. She evaded the comment and it's meaning with ease. Or maybe she didn't understand? He watched as she raised her arm up, forearm presented in front of her. He could feel the mana flow from her towards him. "Will you enter into a pact with me, Archer?" She asked for the first time that day.

Another pause Archer studied her carefully. She was not kidding. She wasn't delusional, and she wasn't performing this act on impulse. He looked out over the cliff again, to the wreckage where the Grail had been destroyed by Saber. He couldn't think of a good enough reason not to delay his return to the Throne of Heroes. Spirits could come and go from any tme, to any time, when the World demanded it. "All right," he drew himself up, squaring his shoulders towards her. "I accept."

With that, the mana that had patiently waited around him began to seep into his bones. Strength he hadn't known he'd lost returned to him. Wounds he'd sustained over the last two days began to knit, though slowly. He'd expected no less of Rin, but somehow still found himself in awe of her capabilities to anchor a Servant without a Grail.

Tohsaka grunted and fell to one knee, sweat beading on her forehead from the exertion. Though she had cut herself off from Shirou, and Saber had faded away, enough time had not passed to adequately replenish her mana. _How stupid,_ he thought bitterly. "Rin!" He steadied her, kneeling with her to offer his support. "That was reckless," he managed.

Tohsaka gave an exhausted smile. "You know the way back home. Right?" Before he could answer her, she leaned heavy against him. Archer was unsure if she'd passed out, or simply fallen asleep.

"All right," he said as though she could hear him. He scooped her up and began their walk back to her home.

_I did it._ Rin lay on her bed, allowing herself to wake at her leisure. There was no longer a pressing matter that demanded her attention, no danger of rival Servants coming to claim her life. She had spent what little mana she'd accumulated when the Grail was destroyed to keep Archer here. The thought filled her with pride bordering on smugness. She sprawled on her bed, arms spread wide, eyes closed, and a cocky, half-awake smile gracing her lips. _I fucking did it_

She gave a long, satisfying stretch, a sleepy sound grumbling in the back of her throat. She sat up, rubbing her eyes to clear them. The aroma of scrambled eggs and rice teased her senses, and at that her stomach gave a painful growl. How long had it been since she had eaten?

Still only half-awake, she let her feet carry her towards the smell of cooking food. She knew her home well, and in her security she had shut her eyes and simply followed the scent.

At the table, there was a plate of food. She had expected a utilitarian helping of sticky rice and eggs on the side, but she was greeted by the sight of a beautifully-crafted rice omelette. A mug of coffee rested next to it, both steaming hot.

Her brain started to engage. She looked around the living area, expecting to find Shirou.

_Idiot,_ she chastised herself. It was a school day. Even though Shirou was a dummy, and a sentimental one at that, he would never force her to eat alone. Nor would he skip a day of class, knowing what wrath she would have in store for him if she found out he skipped because she was _sleeping._

She idly wondered if Archer had decided on a whim to make food. And how did he know when she'd be waking up, anyway?

She scratched the back of her neck, trying to puzzle out the minor details, when a big picture moment shocked her from her thoughts.

She was in sleep wear.

_She wasn't covered in filth._

Her face lit like a birthday candle. She half-marched, half-ran back to her bedroom, rounded the doorway and found Archer, sitting on a chair in the far corner, arms crossed over his chest, eyes shut, ankles crossed in front of him. _Was he sleeping?_

"Archer!" Tohsaka remembered herself, her eyes wide and face aflame.

He cracked an eye open, as if he hadn't been asleep at all, nor was he surprised by her sudden, noisy arrival. He saw her, flustered, and couldn't help but let that half-smirk slide across his lips, showing just enough teeth to display his amusement. "Oh, good. You're alive. You went through all the trouble of keeping me here, I was afraid you'd gone and died on me."

"Don't change the subject!" Tohsaka was referring to the streams of threats and insults she'd practiced in her head in her hasty march down the hall. He'd not heard anything but his name from her.

He stared blankly for a moment. "Heh," he gave a single chuckle, his head bowing and his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Does that make me the subject, then?" He looked up at her again, his head tilted in feigned ignorance. "Or is there something else you wanted to discuss?"

"I... You... What..." Thoughts raced through Tohsaka's mind, though none of them fully formed to make a coherent sentence. She mimed through her communicative breakdown, waving wildly toward the kitchen, then gesturing exaggeratedly at her body. At Archer's growing smirk, she broke out of her freeze. "What did you do to me!?"

At that, Archer let loose a throaty laugh, his hand over his eyes. This only made Tohsaka angrier and more panicked. She seized the nearest object, a small and decorative pillow, hurtling it at Archer, who ignored it entirely. As his laughter died down, he sighed, and looked at her in earnest. "Well. I carried you home. I helped you bathe. I helped you dress. Then I helped you into bed, and let you sleep for," he looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist, "three days."

_Three days!_ "You 'helped me,' huh?" She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to one side.

"Yes," he stated plainly, met her gaze without amusement or embarrassment. "In war, we must tend to the wounded. I consider exhaustion to be a grievous situation." He tilted his head again. "Or would you have preferred to sleep on that cliffside?" Tohsaka recalled the stickiness of the Grail monster and the black goop lake that was its nest, then shuddered. She regarded him coolly.

"Thank you," she ground out through grit teeth. She drew her lips back in a snarl to qualify her thanks, but Archer only grinned.

"You're welcome. Your breakfast is getting cold," he changed the subject without finesse, stood from his perch on the chair and started towards the door. He looked at her over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised in question.. "Unless you're not hungry?"

Tohsaka pufffed her cheeks out in a pout at having been cut off so rudely. She was hungry. That omelette looked amazing. She drew herself up to her full height and planted her hands on her hips. "Okay, fine. I'll go eat." She pointed at him as she walked past. "This isn't over." She paused to glower at him before she continued out the door and back to the dining area.

Archer gave a smug chuckle after she was out of earshot, following her once he was sure her attention was fully off of him and her mind focused on feeding herself.

The rice omelette tasted even better than it looked, and having spent the time confronting Archer gave it time enough to cool. Once she finished her meal, she sighed, the hunger pangs in her stomach having settled. She took a moment to savor the sensation of a full belly, eyes closed in contentment.

Archer bused her plate off the table, and the sound of utensils clattering on the dish disturbed her quiet. Tohsaka opened her eyes, watching him with wariness. She fidgeted with the hem of her night shirt. Now that she was full and the initial shock had worn off, she was unsure of how to proceed with her interrogation. At this point, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

But she _had_ to know.

What did he see? What did he touch?

Lost in thought, Tohsaka had not been aware of her own hand reaching up, absently touching her own breast. Her cheeks were dusted pink at the thought, a strange mix of thrill and dread dueling in her mind.

"Are you all right?" His voice sliced through her thoughts. She stared dumbly at him for a moment, eyes wide, as if she had been caught doing something unsavory.

"Yes, I'm fine, why?" She'd answered a little too quickly, a little too calmly. Archer wore a small frown, eyebrows set in an expression that reminded her of a hawk. Outwardly she met his gaze, but inwardly, she was withering with modesty and embarrassment. Surely, a Servant couldn't read thoughts.

Archer's look of concern faded, replaced by a mask that was meant to hide his thoughts. He didn't blink for several seconds, and Tohsaka was made very aware of the placement of her hand. She swallowed a squeak that threatened to break from her throat, and instead grabbed the coffee mug and sipped what was left inside, pretending not to notice Archer's ever-observant stare.

He wasn't fooled. He did know better than to push, and so let Tohsaka have her coffee in peace. After a moment, he went to sit on Tohsaka's couch, made a move to grab a book to read. After he sat, but before he could reach for the book, she spoke to him.

"Archer," she began. Her voice was unsure, but he could hear her trying to keep her anxiety at bay. She shifted in her seat. It was clear she was struggling with her next sentence, the words caught in her throat.

He helped her along. "Something you need to get off your chest, Master?" He used the last word almost like an epithet. He still wasn't sure what she wanted with him. Why she would eat through so much magic power to keep him here. It didn't make sense. Why, if not to use him for her own, personal punching bag? No. Maybe when they had first met. Too much has happened to both of them since for it to be something as stupid as that.

She tensed at the word, "chest," then whirled around, her glower less angry, more pensive. She moved her mouth to speak, but it appeared the words died on her tongue before she could say them out loud. Archer blinked slowly. _Is that what this is about?_ "Rin, are you worried about how I helped you after the battle?"

She couldn't contain the squeak that time. She wasn't exactly a blushing maiden. She'd read countless books and other stories about the human body and sexuality.

But, here she was. A blushing _goddamn_ maiden.

"If you're going to make fun of me about it, then just do it already!" She spoke forcefully, but her eyes were squeezed shut and a sneer twisted her face.

_Make fun?_ Archer felt his rage flare up. "Why would I do that?" There was an edge to his voice that seemed to feed Tohsaka's anxiety. She looked like she shrank back, her brow wrinkled in distress. Archer leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees to make his point. "You needed me, Rin. After you recklessly spent your mana just to keep me here, you went comatose. What kind of a man would I be if I teased you for that?"

She opened her eyes to see him leaning forward, his full attention on her. His voice was hard, but he seemed hurt, somehow. "I just," she bowed her head, closing her eyes. "No one has seen me in that state since I was a little girl."

"What, comatose?"

"No, you idiot!" She snapped at him. "Naked. Nobody has seen me _naked _since I was a kid, and a little one at that. Before I could even bathe myself."

"Well, you couldn't bathe yourself just then," Archer pointed out, steering into that line of thought.

"Shut up!" She stood up and loomed over Archer, staring down at him. "I was vulnerable! I _can't stand_ being helpless. I'm a Tohsaka! I should have been able to..." she trailed off, her jaw clenched in panic. A shadow cast over her, and before Rin could react, Archer pulled her tightly to him. "Hey! What the..." She struggled a little bit, the sudden pressure around her unfamiliar and _wrong_ somehow.

Wasn't it?

"Stop that," he reprimanded her. "A moment's weakness. That's all you had. Nobody saw it but me. You can relax, now."

_Could I?_ As if given permission, Tohsaka stopped struggling, but still stoof stiffly in Archer's arms, unsure of what to do. She mumbled, "It's because it was you that I can't relax."

"Hmm?" Archer drew back to look down at Tohsaka, but didn't release her from his grip. "What do you mean?" His voice softened. That was an answer he wasn't expecting.

Tohsaka smiled wryly, allowing her rigid stance to soften as well. She even leaned into him a little bit. "It's hard to explain. I didn't want you to see me like that."

Archer blinked. "Naked?"

"No!" She stiffened again, then relented. "No. Not that."

"So, you did want me to see you naked?" Archer teased her, wanting to raise her ire again.

She looked up at him, her face the color of his jacket. Her expression was also one he hadn't expected. She patiently spelled it out for him. "I didn't want you to see me filthy, weakened, and passed out." She conveniently left out the part about her nudity. Was that intentional? Her eyes slid shut, and she bowed her head, her forehead resting on his chest. Archer stood perfectly still. "I didn't want you to think less of me. I didn't want you to be right."

"Right? About what?"

"About my being some weak, little girl of a Master that needed only lie low while her Servant handled everything about this war." Her voice was muffled against his armor.

Archer was stunned. After all that, even when she was Servantless and still fighting, she was worried about that? "Why would you think that? And even if that were true, why would you care what I thought?"

She squirmed against him a little, as though she could physically fight the words she was trying both to say and not to say. She clutched at him, then lifted her head again and watched his eyes. "Because, I want..." She pressed herself against him, forcing him to brace a foot back a little.

_Oh._

_Ohhhh._

In this new light of realization, Archer understood why Rin was so flustered. She didn't need to complete her sentence. He could read her plainly now with this new piece of information, like the final piece of a cypher to crack a code. Her face was heated, and her eyes were wide with uncertainty, but her body language did not lie.

Something in Archer stirred. He expected rage, biting sarcasm, abuse. He expected her to impetuously use her power to keep hm here to make him pay for his betrayal, even if she didn't know his motives and goals. Looking down at her face now, he saw her desire beneath the anxiety. She wanted him, and didn't know how to tell him.

"Rin," his voice was measured, but kind. He leaned over her, letting his grip loosen in favor of resting his hands on her waist. He heard her breath hitch, watched as the fits of emotional warfare began to die away when he pulled her against him. Finally, she accepted being in his grasp, her worry washed quickly away.

Now that she wasn't stressed about his reaction to her nonverbal confession, Archer decided to push his luck. He bent his head down, pressed his cheek to her temple to whisper to her. "Are you saying that you want me?" His voice rumbled. Of course he would get straight to the point. Of all the qualities she saw in Archer, that one was perhaps the one she admired the most.

When he pressed his face to hers, Tohsaka's eyes fluttered shut. She hesitated to answer him, the last gasps of her dying uncertainty forcing her to silence. When she didn't answer him quickly, Archer drew out her name in a questioning tone, let his teeth graze against the tip of her ear. "Rin?"

It felt like she had been hit by lightning. Every nerve came alive with that simple action. She squeezed his arms to steady herself and still didn't answer him. He nibbled at the tip of her ear, breathing hotly against her skin. "Hngh," she managed, attempting to answer him with her actions, now that her words have completely left her.

Archer smirked privately, "Going to need an answer, Rin," he chuckled teasingly, punctuating his statement by tracing the edge of her ear from tip to lobe with his tongue.

Rin felt him smirk and clenched her jaw. His tone both infuriated and excited her. At the feeling of his tongue pressed gently to her ear, she sighed, a shaky attempt at stifling a moan. It was maddening. He lingered there, not moving his hands, nor even his body in response to her instinctively pressing against him. He was holding back. But this closeness wasn't enough. Every new stroke of his tongue brought on a wave of shocks that thundered throughout her body. Her fingers dug into his arms. "Yes," she forced the word from her lips, more breath than voice.

He hummed his approval, nipped gently at the skin of her neck. Rin's blood began to run hot, and it made her feel stupid. He hadn't even begun to touch her and she was already a quivering mess. Pathetic. The spot where he'd nipped her tingled, warmth spreading from that spot into her chest. She focused, placed her hands on his chest and gently urged him to draw back. He stood up straight, looking down at her face. She was surprised to fnd his cheeks slightly flushed. Did she have that effect on him?

Archer saw the look on Rin's face shift from hazy lust, to wonder. He turned his head slightly to look at her with one eye. "What's the matter?"

"Oh. Nothing." Tohsaka was self-conscious about her open staring. She scratched his chest with her fingertips, staring directly at the pattern on his armor. "I didn't realize, that you wanted me, too." Her tone wasn't shy, but it did match the look of wonder she had given him seconds ago.

His smile could darken a room, eyes narrowed and canines showing. "Very much," he emphasized his words by pulling Rin to him again, one hand pressing the small of her back. When she looked up at him again, he wasted no time, pressing his lips to hers.

Tohsaka let her instincts take over, and they told her to let him lead. Through all of her bookish knowledge, she had no experience, and she guessed a man like Archer must have had at least a little practical experience. She surprised herself by finding comfort in that fact instead of envy.

He proved her right when his other hand reached up her back to between her shoulder blades. He tilted his head and parted his lips, adding heat to their kiss, and she followed along. She draped her arms around his neck, allowed herself to be pressed flush against Archer. She felt the raised pattern on his armor biting into her skin under her night shirt, and whimpered against his mouth. He hummed in response, loosening his grip on her while at the same time testing, touching the tip of his tongue against hers.

The loosened hold stopped the pain of his armor pinching her skin, and his tongue touching hers activated Tohsaka. She reacted to him, pressing her tongue back against his, and he responded in kind, at her pace. A new sensation welled up inside of Tohsaka, and she broke the kiss, but refused to pull away. She opened her eyes, saw that he did the same, though her breath came to her in light puffs, his was even, if a little heavier. Her mind struggled to define this feeling she had, but all of her books made this part sound sweet and romantic - nothing at all like this.

This wasn't yearning. That word was much too soft for what she was experiencing. No. This was hunger. It was a craving. A deep-seated need that she never knew existed inside of her.

The stories never discussed this. They never told her of this downright predatory feeling she had. They always made the woman seem like prey, and the man their hunter. But this was much more like a contest between predators.

Her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, because Archer pulled back to see her face again, and his expression matched hers.

Archer was stricken by Tohsaka's look. His body reacted on its own. He grasped her thighs and lifted her up, bringing her to eye level with him, his hawkish glare searching for hesitation. Her long, slender legs slid easily over his hips for support. The sensation of her thighs pressing against his sides drove him to carry her back to her room.

She kissed him this time, much more savage than the first. She clashed with him, her teeth crashing into his. Neither of them cared. Archer growled impatiently, unable to keep himself focused. He turned suddenly in the hallway and pressed her to the wall, not about to let her challenge go unanswered.

She gave a strangled groan when he pressed her against the wall, the weight of him pinning her there. Again, the pattern on his armor dug into her skin. Her lungs burned for air, and her hips ground against his lewdly, in part from her need, in part from her struggle against breathlessness. All she could hear was his breath, starting to shake. All she could see was a haze of red and black. If she was going to die here, she could definitely think of worse ways to go.

The edges of her vision started to dim, when he eased up a little bit. He released his grip on her thighs, letting them dangle before she regained her feet, standig up on the balls of her feet. He was nearly panting by this point, his pulse racing. He kept his face close to hers, waiting for her to meet his gaze. Attempting to maintain some semblance of control, he ground out, "Are you going to let me take you to your bed, now?"

Her eyes narrowed, but she gave no protest.

"Good," he growled, He hoisted her up by her waist and threw her over his shoulder. She yelped, protesting the handling angrily. She pouted, unable to even get a good view from where she was because of his blasted red coat. "We're almost there," he mockingly reassured her, patting her behind with his free hand.

She dropped her head and arms, dangling in his hold, temporarily defeated and simultaneously teased by the contact. He turned into the doorway, and she saw the flooring change from one color to another. She yelped again when her world spun and her gravity shifted, her body finding the mattress of her bed., coming to rest after a couple of bounces. "Hey!" She glared at him, having been so roughly handled.

That wicked smile passed over his lips again. "Something wrong?" he asked in a maddeningly nonchalant tone, as if he hadn't almost suffocated her moments ago. He undid the clasps on his jacket, ten tossed it into the chair in the corner.

Her books were damned useless. She finally let go of all preconcieved noions of what was going on and decided to live in the present. She watched him carefully, adjusted to be comfortable on the bed. Much as she wanted to make the next move, she was unsure what that would be. _Next time,_ she promised herself, then flushed a deep shade of red from the stray thought of regular sex with Archer.

Her mad blushing made Archer's wicked grin worse, and he poked the tip of his tongue out from between his teeth, in what looked like silent, motionless laughter. His gaze swept over her before he started towards the bed, towards her.

She refused to wait for him. She stood up on her knees on the bed, meeting him at the edge and planting another searing, desperate kiss on his lips.

Archer briefly let her have her way, but had ideas of his own. He pressed his palms down on her shoulders, easing her down and away from him. She looked up at him, insecurity flashing in her eyes. He offered a reassuiring smile, which seemed to first calm, then irritate her. Why had he stopped her? Why was he pushing her away?

He never broke eye contact with her, his fingers deftly working the buckles on his armor. He shed the heavy metal and turned away, walking it back to the chair with his jacket. He didn't want to drop it and mess up her floor.

That would be rude.

While still turned away from Tohsaka, he smiled to himself. This wasn't what he'd expected at all. He pulled his undershirt up and away, taking his time, giving Rin an eyeful of his well-toned back and shoulders.

He turned back to her to find her gawking. He gave a smug noise, and that with his small smirk pulled her from her open staring.

Rin knew Archer was fit. Every Heroic Spirit she had ever seen or heard of had been fit. But it's different, seeing it from a battle strategy standpoint versus this situation. She watched as he approached, the hard lines of his toned muscles complimented well in this light. She met him again at the edge of the bed, placing her hand gently on his chest.

He looked down at her patiently, a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

Rin gave her own wicked smile. He began to strip first, so she was going to take advantage. She may not know what to expect based on the drivel she read up to this point, but there were a few things she wanted to try.

She leaned up and kissed him again, a brief, chaste encounter that he leaned a little too far into. She giggled at him despite herself, earning a frown from him. She ignored the frown, then tested her first task. Her tongue darted out to press against his throat, drawing a line from his Adam's apple to just below his ear, ending with a sloppy, wet, sucking kiss. Archer took in a short, sharp breath, and she took that to mean he enjoyed it. She lingered there a moment, running her tongue over the spot another time or two.

She listened for his reactions as she nipped his collarbone. Her hands roamed over his broad chest. Archer stood still, but she could hear his breath begin to catch in his throat. She decided she liked the subtle reactions to her work, and continued. Rin moved her mouth down to his pectoral muscles, lavished them with kisses and licks. To her ever-lessening surprise, he didn't taste of 'salt and musk' like many of her stories had offered. His skin tasted just the same as her own, to her pleasant discovery. She cracked an eye open to see Archer had tilted his head back, his eyes likely shut. Her fingers glided over his abdomen and sides, the tips tripping over the lines of definition.

Archer had his head leaned back indeed, eyes closed. He found that he loved the feeling of Tohsaka's lips and tongue on his skin, even if she was inexperienced. She seemed to know how to respond to reactions, and while her technique was a little rough around the edges, her efforts overcame whatever shortcoming that might've caused. He felt her fingers tracing patterns in the lines of his muscles, and groaned softly when her fingers brushed his lower abdomen by his hip. He flexed instinctively, his whole midsection tensing from the touch.

"Oh," Tohska said teasingly. "Right here, was it?" She gave a sly grin, and he looked down at her just in time to see her press her lips to the spot she'd discovered.

He grit his teeth, weathering her assault, but he couldn't stop his body writhing under her finding that reflexive spot. "Rin," he warned her, his eyes darkening with need.

She let him go, but not mercifully, her cheeky tongue trailing from that spot to just above the waistband of his pants. He grunted, glared at her, but stayed on his spot. When she pulled back, her catlike smile served to fuel that fire she kept pouing gasoline onto.

He blinked away the haze, his grip on reality coming back to him. He pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed, to which she eagerly complied. He wore that frown, the one that seemed only to spur Tohsaka on. He reached down to the hem of her night shirt, and pulled it up and over her head, casting it aside.

Tohsaka had abandoned her shyness, and seemed instead to follow along with whatever he was doing. Made sense. She'd never been social, at school or anywhere else, and her people skills were poorly cultivated. This sort of thing probably wasn't even on her radar until recently. He sank to his knees on the floor, watching her eyes, his fingertips sliding from her collarbone, down her side. She shivered at his touch. Good. This was a good sign. "Archer," she breathed, trying to pull him closer. She wanted the skin to skin contact. She wanted to touch him, to have him touch her. She wanted...

His fingertips traced the outer edge of her breasts. which elicited a half-sigh, half-moan from her. He chuckled without a trace of mockery. Still watching her eyes, he brushed his fingers down to the bottom of her breasts, feeling the slight weight to them. Her eyes slid shut, and he leaned in to plant open-mouthed kisses over her bare chest, much in the same way she had done to him. Here, he was reverent. Her breath began to shudder. He found the nub in the center and nipped gently at it, earning him an outcry,

His pants were getting uncomfortably tight.

Still, he took his time, pressing the flat of his tongue to the abused nipple before repeating the same on the other side, this time the outcry laced with a neediness. Here, knelt between her thighs, the tangy scent of her arousal assaulted his senses. He pulled away, pressing a hand to the middle of her chest, guiding her to lie back on the bed.

Tohsaka felt sensitive everywhere. Every touch of his fingers, every little taste he took of her skin, every little bite overloaded her nerves. Were it not for Archer kneeling before her, she'd have squeezed her thighs together to alleviate the pang of desire she felt. But he was there, and now he was pushing her down.

She only went so far as to prop herself on her elbows. She wanted to see what he was doing. His hands settled on her hips, then grabbed the waist of her pajama pants and underwear. He looked up at her, silently waiting for permission. Tohsaka's impatience had her trying to wiggle out of the clothing on her own, but every time she tried to sit up or move her hands to do it herself, he firmly, but gently repelled her.

Her intent was loud and clear. He pulled her clothes efficiently away, leaving her completely bare to him. The smell of her arousal intensfied without the cloth barriers to block him.

He cursed at the sight. She kept herself well groomed, and her lips were swollen, slick with the evidence of her desire for him.

He looked up at Tohsaka. She was bright red again, but the look on her face wasn't one of embarrassment. He slid his hands underneath her thighs and up to hold her hips, then leaned down and slowly, gently kissed the inside of her thighs, first one, then the other.

Tohsaka thought she was going to burst. She watched, enthralled by him. He was taking his time, working up from her knees to her apex. Too long. This was taking too long. She writhed at his touch, trying to get some sort of stimulation from him. "Please," she begged him, the word torn from her lips against her will.

Archer chuckled, rested his cheek against her inner thigh, his breath caressing her skin. "Please, what?" He wanted to hear her ask him to lick her sensitive lips.

Tohsaka was in a fog of lust and her higher brain functions were not engaged. She couldn't form other words, only wanton mewlings.

Archer chuckled easily. He moved up, barely avoided contact with her cunt. He made eye contact with her until he pressed a harsh kiss against the hollow of her hip, sucking hard enough to draw her skin between his teeth. Tohsaka's sharp gasp and the squirming she did in response to his ministrations made his blood surge. He unbuckled the belt around his waist and undid his pants, because _god_, he needed the extra room. He released her skin and smirked at her, kept one eye on her while he darted his tongue over the darkening skin. "Please. What?" He crossed her belly, moved from one hip to the other and repeated his actions when she couldn't find the words.

Tohsaka cried out in what sounded like pleasure laced with frustration. Archer moved up a little more, leaving a trail of gentle nips against her waist and ribs which forced Tohsaka to react and squirm more beneath him. _Damn him!_ Tohsaka's mind screamed. He was keeping himself far enough from her that no part of him was touching her center, and every time she tried to move closer to him, he gripped her more firmly to keep her in place.

She let herself fall the rest of the way to the mattress, no longer propped up on her elbows. She covered her eyes with her hands, grit her teeth while her body reacted on its own to those damned bites and that clever tongue. She felt his lips and teeth on her ribs again, and this time he lingered. Electricity seemed to flow from the spot he chose to bite, and she thrashed. "Fuck!" The curse wrenched from her throat, and from that, Archer ceased his assault.

That predatory grin. She _hated_ that grin. She _loved_ that grin. She leaned up to look at him more fully. She was a mess, her eyes both desperate and defiant, her hair a mess from her thrashing into the mattress. Faced with that smug expression Archer was giving her, she wanted vengeance for the undignified state in which he'd put her. She could feel her pulse in her fingertips, could hear her heart pounding in her ears. That hunger, that craving she had for him roared within her and she could think of nothing else.

Archer didn't answer her, but instead dropped back down between her thighs. He nuzzled the crook of her leg, just beside her lips. While he drew out her frustration, he toed off his boots behind him and kicked them away.

Tohsaka held her breath when she saw Archer sink down again. She could feel his breath on her. He was so close. If she could just shift a little bit to one side, he would touch her where she wanted it the most. She was vaguely aware of the clattering behind Archer, but couldn't be bothered to care. Her mind had gone blank, all thoughts turned to static.

Archer took a long, slow stroke, the tip of his tongue tracing the outer lips of Tohsaka's cunt, up one side and down the other. He had taken his time on purpose, had not wanted to disappoint Rin in their first encounter. _First encounter,_ he thought to himself, amused by the notion that this might happen more than once. Now that he had quit teasing her, she went briefly still. He could only hear her muffled cries. He parted her lips with his tongue, pressed the flat of it against the length of her slit. He worked against her in slow, firm strokes, urged on by the tenseness in her thighs, the quaking that took over her body.

Tohsaka had bitten down on her forearm, her brows knit together. It felt like liquid fire was pumping through her veins, originating from Archer's tongue and pouring up through her shoulderblades and down to her fingertips. Her fingers curled into the bed sheets to anchor herself. She whimpered, nonstop, felt all of her muscles begin to tense. She was taut as a bowstring, a parallel she would later chastise herself for having drawn. She had already been sensitive before he began. Now here she was, ready to explode in such a short time.

The fact that Tohsaka had attempted to muffle her cries made them even more musical to Archer. His cock leapt when her pitch rose. He let go of one of Tohsaka's hips and freed himself from his pants, gripping himself to relieve some of the pressure. He growled to himself, then let go, his fingers moving up to Rin's center. He clamped his lips down on her clit and sucked, while pressing one digit into her cunt.

Rin wailed, both hands grasping the blankets for dear life. She arched her back until only the back of her head and her hips were touching the bed. It took only seconds once his finger curled inside of her, paired with the overstimulation of his tongue rolling over her clit again and again. She couldn't stop the symphony of lewd cries erupting from her with every breath, sobbing and thrashing, in the throes of a powerful orgasm that had been building for what felt like hours.

Archer rode out Rin's tirade, kept his mouth on her and finger in her to prolong the moment. Several seconds went by while she thrusted and ground against him. When finally she rested again, all he could hear was her, panting shamelessly. He withdrew from her, the slickness between her lips now covering the inside of her thighs, and his chin. He sat up on his knees, wiping his chin off with his clean hand. Tohsaka looked like a complete mess, flushed and panting, hair a tangle from her thrashing.

He liked her like this. His eyes shone with a smug pride. He rose from the floor, loomed over Rin, his pants still on, though the front wide open. He waited until Rin looked up at him, patient as he'd been from the start.

Body flooded with relief, Tohsaka's brain threw into gear again. Her eyes focused, and she looked up as Archer stood. She sat up in front of him, gave him the best cross look she could manage. "Your pants are still on," she said, much more breathily than she had intended.

"They are," Archer agreed.

"Take them off," she ordered him calmly. He obediently stripped away the last of his clothing, though she never mentioned his underclothes. He took liberty with that. "Good. Now, come here." She pulled him to her, hands on his hips. She looked up at him to find him staring at her, that raptor's glare on her. She didn't play the same game he did. Instead, she traced the length of his cock with her tongue, feather-light with the contact. Archer hissed at the feeling, his hips flexing involuntarily. She enjoyed the sound, and tried again, slower, with more pressure.

Archer groaned, a sound resonating deep in his chest. He was stiffer than he'd been since he could remember. That damn teasing tongue was sweet torture. He felt her hands reaching behind him to knead his arse and thighs. She hummed at him in appreciation, sending vibrations straight to his balls. He leaned forward, resing his legs against the mattress to keep himself from buckling.

Tohsaka pulled away a little, let him settle, then tried the next thing she'd read about.

Archer inhaled sharply, then gave a ragged groan. Rin planted her open mouth on one of his balls and sucked it into her mouth. _Filthy little minx,_ he mentally cursed her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, threw his head back and grit his teeth. The sensation was overwhelming, explosions of electricity in his hips and thighs. Adrenaline surged through his body, igniting his fight-or-flight response.

"Rin!" Archer growled her name, though far too late for a warning. She pulled away to look up at him, a blushing smile greeting his face. It was infuriatingly innocent. Archer hauled Rin up and brought them both crashing back down to the mattress. As much as he would have loved to let her continue licking and sucking him off, he wanted enough stamina left to fuck her. _Next time,_ he promised himself, again musing at the idea of more sex with Tohsaka.

She yelped and laughed when they crashed to the bed and scooted back to the middle of the mattress. Archer followed, caging her between his arms, his knees on either side of one of her legs. She beamed at him. This was the happiest Archer had ever seen her, and it gave him pause. Though his cock ached to be buried into Tohsaka, he was fascinated. He pressed down onto her, jockeying her thighs around his hips. He pressed the tip gently between her folds, lining himself up. He watched her carefully, leaning in to give her an uncharacteristically tender kiss.

Tohsaka shifted her hips to help Archer line up, listening to her instincts. When he kissed her, an odd mix of anxiety and emotion rushed to the surface. Her confusion muted when she felt him press forward, the head of his cock nudging her entrance. Her heart raced. The stretching sensation was surprisingly pleasant, and entirely different from any of her personal toys. She felt the ridge of him pierce past her opening, and she broke the kiss to gasp, her hands flying to his sides.

Archer's eyes were hooded as he concentrated on not slamming himself into Tohsaka right off the bat. He watched her eyes snap open when he pushed, the head of his cock pressing through with a slight popping snsation. He adjusted, leaned on one hand while the other held one of her thighs. Through her whimpering, he pressed on, one agonizingly slow, but smooth motion, until he was fully sheathed within her.

Rin eased her grip on Archer's sides, and let go of the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She looked up at him, saw the barely-contained lust in his expression, an expression that mirrored her inner thoughts. She squirmed under him, attempted to create friction between them.

Archer exhaled sharply, feeling the heat around his cock start to move and flex around it. While hers were awkward and unpracticed, jerky motions, Archer took her meaning. He adjusted his grip on her thigh and began to move, gentle, nudging strokes.

She was shocked by how quickly the slow, slight movements stoked her fire. Her face flushed, her lips parted in new, soft moans. Archer's pubic hair ground against her clit, sending sparks shooting through her body. A particularly long grinding session brought her moans to a higher pitch, and Tohsaka honestly thought she'd never sounded more feminine in her life.

Archer's breath was measured, but deep, his mouth slightly open and his tongue pressed against his front teeth. His thrusts gained strength, building up according to Tohsaka's reactions. He watched her eyes squeeze shut and her head thrown back, mouth open, her moans filling the air. He closed his eyes and dropped his head, resting it next to hers. He slid his arm underneath the leg he'd been holding, hooking his elbow behind her knee, picking up his pace.

Tohsaka felt Archer's weight shift and press down on her, instinctively bringing her hands to his back, grasping for a hold. The new angle ripped a moan out of her that she swore came straight from a porno.

Archer cursed a half-growl, half-groan right near her ear. The loud, wet sound of their bodies impacting, paired with the delectable sounds coming out of Tohsaka caused his balls to tighten. He grunted with every breath with the effort to keep going, fighting the losing battle.

The sounds of Archer's effort drove Tohsaka higher. She felt his sack smacking against her arse, in a sensation she didn't know she would enjoy. His muscles were shaking with the tension in them.

The rhythmic movements became erratic, Archer's breath coming in ragged huffs. He slammed forward, buried himself into Tohsaka's cunt and felt his cock pulse and jerk, shooting his seed. His hips ground against Tohsaka as he came, a thin sheen of sweat covering his skin.

Tohsaka watched in fascination as Archer came completely undone. His erratic motions, paired with his grinding and stimulation of her clit, she keened, another, admittedly smaller orgasm claiming her muscle control. She squirmed under him for a few seconds after he finished, riding the sensations until they ran their course.

They lay together, panting, a tangled and spent mess. Archer let himself sink down, making sure not to crush Tohsaka under his weight. She relaxed her legs, letting them slide down off of Archer's hips, freeing him from her grasp. As they started to regain their strength, a pleasant ache spread through Tohsaka. She wondered what could have caused that. Her uncontrollable thrashing, no doubt.

When their awkward resting position became less tolerable, Archer pulled away, juices spilling from Tohsaka's folds onto the blanket. He drew himself up, looking down at her. A total mess. He gave his cocky smirk, then started toward the wash room.

"Hey!" Tohsaka peered at Archer as he started to walk away. "Where do you think you're going! This is nasty!" She complained half-heartedly about the mess on the bed, having not anticipated it.

Archer laughed at her over his shoulder. "Pretty good reason for us to share a bath, if ever there was one."

"That's not what I meant!" She got up to chase him, holding her crotch which was now sticky with both of their fluids. 'Get back here!"


	2. Could Be Fun, Let's Try It

London was a new experience, to be sure. Moving to Britain to study at the Clock Tower had been a culture shock to Rin, despite having no real social life back in Fuyuki to begin with. The process of ordering food, by itself, proved to be a nuisance at the best of times. Her English was not very good yet, and on more than one occasion, the food service workers got her order wrong, at times with disastrous results.

Today was one of those days.

Rin sighed, defeated again by this foreign tongue she hadn't yet bested. She eyed the slice of pizza suspiciously. There was cheese, sausage, pepperoni, yes, all of that was normal. But there were salty little bits of _something_ offending her senses when she took a bite. She gagged and choked, coughed, reached for her drink and took huge gulps. Water washed away the aftertaste and cleared her esophagus. She heaved a sigh. "That was disgusting," she sneered, turning her nose up at the nearly-untouched disk of gross in front of her.

"I could have cooked, you know," Archer chided Rin, materializing in front of her. He was pouting, she knew. He acted like he hated it, but she saw how he was in the kitchen. Skilled and focused, everything having to be just so before he would serve it up, often with an attitude of having been grievously put out by having to slave over a hot stove. "You didn't have to waste your money on whatever _that_ was."

Rin snorted. "And get to hear you bitch about having to do it? No, thanks." She stood up and grabbed the box of pizza, dumping it wholesale into the waste bin. "I normally like fish, but it has no business on a pizza like that," she declared.

"It wasn't very well balanced," he agreed. "Sausage, pepperoni, and anchovies? Why not just eat a block of salt lick?"

"It was a quick pizza. I didn't have high expectations," she said defensively. "Ugh. I'll make some tea. The aftertaste is making a comeback. I have got to do something about that."

While Rin rummaged around the kitchenette, finding the supplies to heat the water and brew their tea, Archer watched her work. Over these months, he's let her take over some of the kitchen duties, a sort of experiment, to see how much attention she paid when he worked in the kitchen. He never said a word when he cooked or made tea, but somehow, she had been picking up a lot of the tricks he's used. Her tea-serving talents had grown, and he enjoyed when she served him. He knew better than to say anything to her directly. The next serving, if there was one, would be nothing but scalding water with loose leaves thrown in. Hot leaf water, in the most literal sense.

She dutifully placed the tea tray down, silently poured their drinks, and sat across from Archer. The aroma he recognized as a mix of mint and chamomile. Relaxing and probably good for getting that salt taste out of her mouth. It wasn't his go to, but he didn't mind. They sat quietly, enjoying the beverage and each other's company.

He did notice, her body language, though subtle, was noticeable by him all the same. She had something on her mind, and her glances held intent. She was working out how to say what she wanted to say, but appeared to be wrestling with the concept in her own mind. After a few minutes of that, Archer stared, openly and pointedly at her.

That flustered Rin, and her face heated under his stare. _Ah, so it's that kind of question._ The corners of Archer's lips tugged into a near-imperceptible smile. In the time they've spent together, their encounters have been random, passionate affairs fueled by anything ranging from a need to vent frustrations, to expending energy to bring on sleep. Archer was happy with that arrangement, but Rin's reaction to his staring had him intrigued. He allowed some of his smile reach his eyes, and they glinted with mischief.

"What's that look for!" Rin exclaimed, still unaccustomed to expressing herself openly. Mages did need to play things close to the chest. Archer tilted his head back a little, leveling a look at her. He wasn't saying anything out loud. He was letting her twist in the wind and come to him for once, instead of letting him coax her out of her shell like he normally did. "Say something! Don't just leave me like this!"

"Like what?" Archer asked through a barely-contained chuckle. "You weren't going to come _crawling_ back to me and _beg _me to cook, now, were you?" He let the words hang for an extra beat, lending weight to them.

Rin narrowed her eyes, grit her teeth, but cast her gaze downwards. "No. I'm not hungry anymore," she stated plainly. Her tone brooked no argument. She truly lost her appetite to the extra-salty pizza. Based on her reaction, his assumption of her wanting to experiment with power dynamics appeared to be a miss, too. He sighed inwardly, disappointed. _Soon,_ he convinced himself. She muttered something under her breath, her face heating further as she said something he couldn't quite understand.

"Hmm?" He leaned forward a little. "I didn't catch that,"

Rin grumbled. He saw her knuckles turn white, as if raising her voice to an audible level was a great effort. "I don't know how to explain what I want," she admitted. Having to say those words out loud probably was difficult for somebody like Rin.

Archer sighed. "Okay. Try anyway," he pressed, resting his elbows on his knees, giving her his undivided attention.

"Ugh! Why do you have to-," she caught herself in mid-sentence, rubbed her face in exasperation, squirmed under his unwavering gaze. "I want to fight," she managed to say in slow, measured, scraping tones. Archer blinked slowly, patiently waiting for her to continue. Strong a mage as she was, she still would stand no chance with him in a sparring match. But she knew that. So he let her work out what she wanted to say. "To find out who gets to call the shots." He still didn't reply, just watched her. She met his stare, frustration and embarrassment clear on her features. "In bed."

_It is a power dynamic thing!_ Archer's heart thrummed. He was waiting for this day. "You want to clash, in bed, to see who gets to dominate, and who's the submissive?" He spelled it out clinically, gesturing with his hands as he spoke, a way to hide his anticipation, and a way to keep Rin from backing down from the idea of power struggle play.

"Yes," she said as though replying to a form. "But I understand there are ground rules that have to be put in place first. I'm not entirely sure how that works," she admitted. "All I know is that it's different for every couple."

Archer smirked when she used the word, 'couple.' Before she could snap at him for it, he spoke, cutting her off. "Generally, a safe word is put in place. Then, each person involved says what lines they're not willing to cross under any circumstances. If the safe word is said, then all activity pauses, and we adjust until everyone is comfortable enough to continue, or we stop altogether."

"All right," Rin switched gears, resting her fingertips on her chin, looking up at the ceiling and thinking. "Hmm. I think a good safe word would be something one wouldn't normally say, either in daily life or during sex." She had always been careful on what to say, that she never thought about what she wouldn't say.

"I could tell you mine, and you can tell me if you like it," Archer offered.

Rin quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, that's right. Thousands of years old Heroic Spirit. You probably have this stuff down pat." She seemed at once annoyed and relieved by the realization.

Archer huffed out a half-sigh, half-laugh. "I wouldn't say 'down pat,' but I have some experience here," he explained. "Do you wish to draw on my experience or not?"

Rin considered him for a moment. "Yes, fine. Let's hear what the almighty Archer, Emiya has to say when he can't take it anymore," she taunted him playfully, poking the tip of her tongue out between her teeth.

"Tch," Archer peered at her. "I told you not to call me that," he complained. When Rin unapologetically widened her grin, he growled a warning. He shifted back to the topic at hand. "My safe word is 'carbon dating."

Rin blinked in confusion, then quickly nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I can't imagine something as banal and un-sexy as 'carbon dating.' Okay. We can use that."

"Good," he confirmed. "Next, you tell me what I absolutely should not do. I will respect your boundaries. You have my word," he said earnestly.

"Well, I don't want to actually get hurt, like go to the hospital," she stated, as if that wasn't a given. He nodded and let her continue. "No anal sex. I'm not kidding!" She glowered at him, but he held his hands up defensively and shook his head. "Good," she eyed him. "I'm not wanting to get pissed on or anything like that, either," she noted. Archer chuckled, nodded, another easy bar to clear. "And I don't want any marks visible. If there are going to be marks on me, they should be easily covered by what I wear in public." He nodded again. "And, I guess that's it. Anything else I'll have to learn, and use the safe word."

"That's what it's there for," Archer answered. "Those are all reasonable. You must have looked into this," he teased her. "Almost like you've been thinking about it for a while."

"Yeah, well, I have," she said easily, though her rigid spine and clenched fists against her knees betrayed how he affected her. "Now you tell me yours!"

"All right." Archer took a deep breath. "I'm not one for scat or water sports, either," he said, pausing to make sure she followed what he meant. She picked up pretty quick., making a face at the fact that he used jargon, as if he was talking to an experienced pro. "Otherwise, unless I specifically use my safe word, assume I'm having fun."

Rin nodded slowly. She sipped her tea, as if punctuating their exchange. "Shall we?" Her tone was calm, almost cheerful. He could see from across the table that she was brimming with excitement and anxiety.

Archer finished his tea and set the cup down gently, raising from his seated position smoothly. "Lead the way."

They walked down the hall to her room. She had set up glyphs to soundproof the space, but he noticed a few extras, and that she was casting an incantation to seal the space, protecting it entirely from any unfortunate enough to stumble in on them, namely Shirou, who had nearly caught them on a number of occasions. It was sort of like a miniature reality marble, and if the younger version of himself showed up, all he would see or sense was Rin's empty, undisturbed room, and not the two perverts going at it inside.

"Hey, before we get started," Rin spoke softly, still finding the courage to say what she wanted. "Do you think you could change into your gear? The black armor, the red mantle?" He couldn't see her eyes. They were shaded by her hair.

Without him saying a word, his battle gear materialized onto his form. His hair was brushed back, too, like the first time she summoned him. Yes, he knew what she wanted. Rin's heart hammered in her chest, and her fingertips pulsed with the rush of seeing him like this. Battle ready. To take her on.

"It's only fair," she smiled, gathering her hair into the twin tails she used to wear in high school. She watched Archer for a reaction, the only notable one being his absolute non-reaction, his eyes glued to her. The black bows tied them up perfectly, and he let his eyes wander to them. She felt his stare, then shifted her stance, her body broadside to him and her hands up. "One last thing," she amended. "No magic. Just human strength. Until we decide who's dominating tonight," she declared.

"Fine by me." Archer was determined to win. He lowered his center of gravity, bent his knees in a crouch. "Whenever you're ready."

Impossibly fast, Rin bolted inside of Archer's reach, hooking her frontward leg around his, grabbed his shoulders and twisted, using her hip and twisting her body to bring him down. Archer crashed to the ground, grunting with the impact, but before he hit, he reached for Rin's shirt lapels, pulling her down with him. She yelped, his quick response to her attack catching her off-guard. Archer used their momentum from the fall and rolled them over, pinning Rin by her wrists, locking his ankles around hers. She glared defiantly at him, and he grinned down at her. "Looks like I win," he taunted in a gravelly tone that he knew she liked.

"Like hell!" Rin struggled under Archer, wriggling. Too late, Archer realized what she was doing, and she thrust her left fist out and her left foot down, stretching them to their limits and loosening Archer's grip enough for her to take control and mount over top of him. She smirked triumphantly at her maneuver. "Self-defense is required study for mages these days, remember?"

Archer scoffed. "I haven't yielded yet," he pointed out, and he struck out, his arm reaching around the opposite side of Rin and pulling her down and to the side, his hand firmly between her shoulder blades, securing one leg by wrapping his free arm around it, his leg locking the other one in place.

Rin yelped, trying in vain to push up from the floor. She let him get the better of her. How? She felt a sting across her ass and she shouted. "Hey!"

Archer smiled wickedly. "I couldn't resist." The arm having held her leg in a submission hold had a hand in just the right space to strike her. He did it again, and she yelped a second time. "Mmm. I do love it when you make those noises," he teased her, knowing she was enjoying this just as much as she was struggling to get free.

He drew back for a third hit, but she broke his hold, rolling over and trying to get away. "Ah! Not so fast!" Archer held her other leg firmly with his, leveraging himself to get behind Rin, lying her on top of him with her back to him, restraining her arms and legs. She thrashed in his grip, spat all sorts of colorful swear words at him. She was surprisingly strong for her stature, but before long, her struggling began to wane. A deep chuckle rose from Archer's chest, and he whispered in her ear, "Yield."

Rin began to struggle again, and he tightened his grip on her. "I said, yield! I've won. You can't get away."

Rin finally sagged in his grip and sighed, defeated. "All right. You win this time," she pouted. "I'll be good."

"I know you will," he rumbled into her ear, tightened his grip a little bit more, then nipped her neck and released her. She scurried a few feet from him, then turned to face him, sitting on her knees, an expression of forced grimness on her face. She was trembling already. He stood from the floor, straightened his mantle and readjusted himself conspicuously, his excitement beginning already to show. That wouldn't do. He needed to control himself.

He canted his head to the side, his now-authoritative stare appraising her. "Stay put," he ordered as he circled her. He was making a show of sizing her up, watching her reactions as his boots hit the floor in slow, measured steps. She seemed eager enough to keep to their agreement. He passed her by, allowing his red half-cape to graze her arm. When he was behind her and out of view, he spoke again. "Stand up." She obeyed, but began to turn around to face him. "No," he corrected her. "I did not tell you to face me, pet."

Rin blushed all the way down to her toes. She obediently stayed facing away from Archer. The nickname he had decided to use filled her with a new sort of arousal. She hadn't considered nicknames, in all the things she'd read about in BDSM. But hearing it now, it fit well. It was degrading, but endearing. She didn't quite know how to feel about it.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't heard Archer approaching. "Strip down," a quiet, commanding voice spoke clearly, unexpectedly close. Her breathing picked up, and eager to obey, she hastily started undoing the buttons on her red blouse. "Ah. No. Slower," he instructed, and the warmth she had just noticed about his presence retreated with the sound of his footsteps. She fiddled with the buttons more carefully, shrugging the shoulders of her blouse down her arms. Archer had moved to circle back around to the front. He hadn't told her in what order to strip, so he left it to her discretion. "Aren't you going to acknowledge your master?" His voice had an edge to it, and she hesitated, caught off-guard by his demand. "I didn't tell you to stop."

"Y-, yes," she replied, letting the garment slide down her arms and off her body.

He took three swift steps to her and grabbed her lower jaw in his hand, firmly, but delicately, his eyes blazing at a slight she had no idea she'd committed. "Yes, who?" He ground out impatiently, his face inches from hers in a show of intimidation.

"Yes, m-, m-..." Rin couldn't make herself say it. It felt too weird. He was glaring at her, and she was embarrassed, self-conscious, lacking confidence.

Archer sighed, released her jaw, and wandered over to sit down in a chair. "Looks like my pet needs training," he sighed, as if bothered. He tilted his head, and crooked a finger at her in a gesture universal for 'come here.'

Rin fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. All sorts of conflicting feelings sprang up at once. She was apprehensive, aroused, jittery with excitement and anxiety, paralyzed and not sure what to do. The look on Archer's face morphed into a more stern glower, a shadow covering his eyes. "Do I need to spell it out for you, pet?" He bit the last word off at the end, made clear his displeasure at being made to wait. He considered her uncertainty, then leaned forward in his seat. "I want you. To get on your hands and knees. And crawl to me."

Rin finally began to move, sinking to the ground, thankful she didn't have to stand on her own power with how weak her knees felt in that moment. She crawled wordlessly to him, her breath shuddering, goosebumps dusting her skin. She stopped in front of him, not sure what he wanted with her next. He hummed in approval. "That's a little better. Now, I want you to drape yourself over my lap with your ass in the air."

Rin bit her lip, stifled a squeak. She shook as she climbed up into his lap, resting her abdomen across his thighs. His hands gently came down, one on the back of her neck, one onto the curve of her ass, still covered by the skirt. He stroked her back with the hand near to her neck, while he glided his other hand over the round part of her behind, letting the skirt ride up on its own until he saw the revealing panties she was wearing. He couldn't stop a rumble emanating from deep in his chest. "You do know what happens next, don't you, my pet?" He lifted the hand on her ass until just one fingertip rested on it, drawing lazy circles on the skin there.

Rin squeezed her eyes shut, her body tensed. She did know what was coming. But there was a problem. She still wasn't addressing him, by title, or really at all. He relaxed his hand on her ass again, letting his fingertips dip down to her inner thighs. "But do you know why?"

Rin stayed silent, but he saw her shaking her head. "Look at me right now," he said in a softer tone. She paused, then turned her head to look at him, uncertainty mixed with defiance in her features. "You must answer me and address me as 'master' from here on out," he explained to her. He decided to break the scene for just a moment, this being Rin's first time and everything. "If you can't talk to me when I'm doing something you like, how are you going to tell me when you don't like something?"

Rin considered this. She had gone about this wrong after all. She had thought silence was golden in these situations. Speak when told. Don't talk out of turn. But this is part of it. Communication. She nodded, still looking at him. "Yes. Master," she tested the word on her tongue, a very different flavor from how she;s used to using it.

"Better. Now," he pressed a hand to the back of her neck again, signaling her to lie her head back down, "I'm going to count them out this time. But if this happens again, you're counting. One, for each time you failed to address me. Tell me you understand."

"I understand."

She squealed as a heavy hand swatted her ass, stinging the skin. "One," he stated. "Would you care to try again?"

Rin bit her tongue to keep from spitting more insults at him. He sensed her hostility, and swatted her again, on the opposite cheek this time, making her body jerk and a strangled yelp tear from her throat. "Two," he counted. "My pet is a slow learner," he smirked.

"I, I understand, Master," she ground out through grit teeth. Now both sides of her ass were sore. His large, callused hand rubbed gently, soothing some of the sting he created. She cried out again, arching her back when he hit her again. "Three. Four." He counted every time since they began, plus a couple extra from when they were still deciding who won the fight, and one more for her trying to argue with him over how many spankings she deserved.

By the end, she was a quivering mess, her skin pink and tender. He stroked her behind, smoothing the skirt back into place. He gently stroked her back, too, praising her for holding on while he gave her punishment. "Come, now," he patted her back, "stand up." She immediately stood, not making eye contact with Archer. He stood, too, and smiled privately at how submissive she's become after just one round of spankings. "Now, stand still," he commanded. She froze in place. He deftly worked the clasps of her skirt and her bra, letting both garments fall, leaving Rin in only her underwear. He stepped back and looked at her. "Glorious," he praised her.

Rin felt his eyes rake over her nearly-naked form, and started to move to cover herself. "No," he corrected. "Don't cover yourself, pet. You're beautiful. I want to see." A gorgeous shade of pink covered her skin at his bold words.

She chewed nervously on her lower lip. "Yes, Master." She was not used to compliments from Archer. She definitely wasn't used to being on display in this manner, either. Even so, she could smell her own arousal, and if she could smell it, she knew he could. Her inner thighs were slick. She was responding to him positively in this way.

Archer swelled with masculine pride. He stepped toward her again, closing the distance between them and planting a gentle, passionate, but restrained kiss on her lips.

Rin whimpered, melted into the positive contact. She felt his arms wrap around her and move pull her in, giving her permission to surrender to him. She clutched at him while she pressed her front flush against his. He growled roughly and deepened their kiss and embrace, pulling her to him in such a way that he ground his hips against hers, having lifted her off the ground and against him to do so. His mind flooded with mental images of Rin on her knees, greedily sucking his cock. That was what he wanted. He broke away from her, hearing her and himself panting to catch breath. He unclasped his belt and pants, pulling from them his cock, already hard and pulsing with need. "On your knees," he demanded, his quiet, but authoritative tone having an immediate response from Rin.

"Yes, my Master," she added a word to the title, claiming him in doing so. As her knees hit the floor, his cock leapt in response, demanding attention. Archer slid his own hand up and down his shaft, gritting his teeth to bite back a groan at the sight of Rin on her knees before him, her lips parted already and waiting for him.

"Pet, if you need me to slow down, I want you to pat my leg, okay? Tell me you understand." He exercise great restraint by not immediately shoving his cock down her throat.

"I do understand, Master," she affirmed, staring hungrily at his cock, licking her lips in anticipation, waiting for the order.

"Good, he growled, resting his hand on top of her head, grabbing a fistful of hair, and guiding her to take him in. Her tongue slid over his frenulum, and he gasped. He pulled back, then slowly pushed forward again, prolonging the contact of her tongue against the tip and just below it. He held her in place as he eased his cock into her mouth, a little more with each press forward. He hissed when he felt her teeth scrape gently against his skin, sparks prickling his skin. "Easy, pet, I'd rather not come away with teeth marks on my dick today," he stated bluntly.

Rin gave a muffled grunt that sounded like an affirmation, and her jaw opened wider. He knew it wasn't easy to do. The jaw does get tired. But he was confident she could do it.

He nudged himself into and out of her mouth a little at a time, careful not to ram into her too quickly. Rin went along with it, encouraging Archer, hooking an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. She gagged at a particularly enthusiastic thrust, but she did not pat his leg, and Archer found that the reflex opened her throat even more. He groaned languidly, not holding back his sounds of pleasure. "Your mouth feels amazing," he moaned. As if in response, Rin flickered her tongue side-to-side, the broad, flat surface of her tongue dragging across his tip. He gasped and grunted again, knees nearly buckling from the effort to stay standing. His pleasure mounted with every thrust. Rin's eyes were closed as she focused on him. Just the right amount of suction, licking. Just the righ amount of resistance. Fuck, he wanted this to last for hours. Through his ragged breaths, he ordered, "Touch yuorself while you're sucking my cock, my dear pet."

Rin slid one hand down her body, and when her hand touched the front of her panties, she gave a lewd moan, sending vibrations straight tot he base of Archer's shaft. Her focus waned, and she struggled to maintain her pace with him, and touch herself at the same time. She whimpered in frustration, distracted from her own pleasure, then distracted by her own pleasure, in a no-win scenario of constant distraction.

Archer held fast to both sides of Rin's face. "I'm going to come in your mouth, and you're going to swallow every last bit of it," he informed her. Her brows knit together, but she understood. He began pulling her in rhythm with his thrusts, losing grip on his control. He looked down to see her lips stretched to accommodate him, saw the look of frustrated pleasure on her face, the knowledge that her hand was sliding all over that soaked pair of panties.

Rin gagged and coughed a few times at the rough treatment, his cock growing harder the way it does just before he cums. She held on, waiting, darting her tongue in differing patterns, until finally, he gave a strangled groan, his breath coming ragged while he shot his load into her mouth. Rin clamped her lips down around his shaft, feeling him pulse on her tongue. She swallowed all that he gave her, letting him spend himself fully. He began to pull away, and she started to lick him clean. opening her eyes and looking up at him, her lips bruised and cheeks puffy from the punishment they just took.

Archer panted, catching his breath, a deep red blush settled on his features. He sat down on the floor next to Rin, who had stopped all activity and was waiting for more to do, clearly uncomfortable and squirming with unfulfilled arousal. Archer grinned, a tired, but wicked grin. "Lie back," he demanded. She did as she was told, sprawling herself out on the floor. "Don't move." She got comfortable. Archer reached forward, pulling her panties off and away. They weren't doing her any good now, anyway. "You've been a good girl, and a fast learner. I think you need a reward," he said in a light and airy tone.

"Thank you, Master," she shivered, both exhausted and wound up from their activities. She felt him settle between her legs, resting his head on the inside of her thigh, his breath caressing her sex. She whimpered and squirmed, but didn't try to force anything. She felt his fingers trace down her outer labia, massaging up and down, pressing inward at the apex and at her opening. He was teasing her, and she was already so wound up. It would not take much at all for her to cum, and he knew it. He probed gently with his fingertip at her opening, slowly, deliberately dragging the tip of his tongue over her clit. She shrieked and leapt, earning her a chuckle from Archer.

He loved that she was at the edge. He loved toying with her, and loved the state of mess she was in. He knew all too well it wouldn't take much now. He leaned forward, gently planted his lips around her bud, and lavished his tongue over it in slow, rhythmic strokes. His finger pressed in to the second knuckle, then bent, the tip of his finger pressing her front wall and that soft bundle just inside.

Rin howled with pleasure, convulsing and sobbing, powerful orgasm wracking her body. She writhed and twisted under his ministrations, her hand clawing for purchase, but only scrabbling on the floor of her bedroom. Wave after unbearable wave crashed over her, until finally, she lie on the floor, gasping for breath.

Archer smirked, pulled away from Rin, admiring his handiwork. Yes. A total mess. A beautiful disaster. His pet. His Rin.

He sighed and pushed up from the floor. Rin was vaguely aware of him rummaging around somewhere, her mind still a foggy cloud of euphoria. She heard him say, "Roll onto your belly." She didn't even question it, just rolled onto her belly, resting her head in her arms.

She felt two big, callused hands start to knead and rub her behind, but the intent felt different this time. Cucumber scent filled her nostrils, and a cooling sensation took the sting out of her sore ass. He'd found her lotion and was taking care of her. In her numb stupor, she remembered that good dominants always care for their submissives. Somehow, the care he took of her made her feel even safer than she had before. He also rubbed her back and shoulders for good measure, since she was in a compromising position for a significant amount of time.

Rin could not help falling asleep in the middle of his care, drifting off in a daze.

Archer shook his head and chuckled. He made sure she was comfortably in her bed and under the covers, then left her to rest. They could talk in the morning.

A/N: I'm not sure how this is all gonna play out. Couple of one-shots? Any story, ever? I have no idea.


	3. Rin's Resolve

Rin sat at her desk, practicing the basics of bringing mana to a crystalized form. She'd been able to manifest it in this way since she was a child, before her father died in the Fourth Holy Grail War. It was a mindless activity that kept her skills sharp, and allowed her mind to wander, as she'd become adept enough to not have to focus all of her attention on the creation of a mana crystal.

She'd thought back to the night Archer took control and dominated her. How he'd used her, instructed her, demeaned her and praised her. How he cared for her afterwards. For days now, she'd been trying to figure a way where she could turn the tables on him. She knew her tactic of a power struggle would never net her a win. In fact, she'd counted on Archer's win the last time, and she was not disappointed by the result.

She smiled privately at the memory. The thrill, the rush. Being put in her place was an unfamiliar experience for her. Nobody else on this planet could have done it.

Archer could. He was the one person she'd met who she would acknowledge to take her over.

She mindlessly turned the mana crystal's energies over, as if shaping a piece of pottery. It would never appear so smooth and artistic as that, but the motions were fun all the same.

_How would I do if I was the dominant?_ Rin had seen caricatures of dominators and dominatrices in media, but Archer wasn't anything like that. She pictured him in leather Daddy gear, and blinked the thought away, shaking her head. No, that doesn't fit him. She also couldn't see herself shouting insults and demands at him in that setting. Oh, sure, she insulted him and gave him orders in everyday life, but in everyday life, he shot back at her with his own insults, and would do only that which he wanted anyway. It was a game, one which they both enjoyed, even if on the outside it looked like they barely stood each other.

But in _that_ setting, she didn't feel it fit quite as well. Round peg, oval hole sort of thing. It could fit if pushed, but it wouldn't feel quite right.

She'd done her research, as usual, when Archer was away. She was careful to avoid sites that catered strictly to pornography, largely because after her encounters with Archer, she knew they were all bullshit anyway. Instead, she had perused sites dedicated to the education of BDSM partnerships. There was an entire world dedicated to this craft, and there was so much more to it than leather daddies and women being made to grovel, bow, and scrape. The scope and magnitude of the new world she'd been exposed to overwhelmed her, so she started with the basics.

After a time, she set down the fully-formed mana crystal, and sighed, placing it in a drawer that held a number of them, all the same general size and style. She'd been thinking a lot lately, and these were the proof. She blinked slowly at the drawer that rattled with the stones she'd made. At this point, she was running in circles. It was time to act. Thinking on it further wouldn't bring her any closer to an answer. She had to experience it.

When Archer returned from his food run, he found Rin in the common area, straightening up. He eyed her suspiciously. She never cleaned, or even tidied. He warily placed the bags on the counter and started putting the groceries away. He watched her carefully. She didn't seem pensive like he expected. There was an odd calm about her. The kind of calm she gets when she's made her mind up about something.

Task done, he turned around, leaned on the counter and folded his arms. "All right, out with it," he drew out, knowing he had to ask directly, or be surprised later in the day.

Rin, having finished tidying the room and sat on the couch, smiled cheekily at him. "I want a turn," she said boldly, refusing to shrink from this.

Archer huffed. "'A turn?' At what, shopping for food?" He wouldn't give up this game of intentionally misunderstanding her. He liked watching her trip, then run to catch up.

"Are you in or not?" Rin stood from her seat, her cheeky smile morphing into a look of resolve. "Don't play dumb with me, Archer. You know what I'm getting at. If you don't want to, then I won't force you, but neither will I beg." She crossed her arms and stared him down, determination clear on her face.

Archer smirked. It had taken time, but she was finally allowing herself the things she wanted, without embarrassment or apprehension. Maybe their session last week had triggered in her a true confidence. Maybe it boosted her trust in him further.

_Maybe she just wants to beat your ass,_ an old voice chided in his head.

_She can try,_ he countered himself. "Same rules as before?"

"Naturally." Rin's shoulders relaxed when he spoke. A small part of her had worried he wasn't one to switch roles, but the fact that he agreed to whatever their last duel would decide effectively nullified that thought. "Only, I want to add one thing." 

Archer tilted his head, waiting for her to continue.

"I want to use magecraft." She studied him for a reaction.

He regarded her for a moment, weighing what she meant by that. "And what do you intend to do with your magecraft?" He didn't feel much like dealing with her Gandr techniques.

"To reinforce your restraints," she informed him, eyes glittering with mischief. "You've got a lot of physical strength. It wouldn't do for you to destroy the bonds."

"Trace on," Archer said, nodding thoughtfully. The phrase Rin hadn't heard in months shot through her like a bolt of electricity. She'd forgotten somehow that Archer was capable of reinforcement magic. Archer pretended not to notice. "Yes, I think with your level of expertise, you could hold me down. If I was willing." He bent his head down to stare at her through predatory eyes.

Rin grit her teeth, but in the form of a wicked smile laced with venom. She glared at him, rested her hands on her hips. "I did ask you if you were interested. If you're not, I guess I can just go back to practicing." She made a show of aloofness, waving a dismissive hand and adopting a tired look on her features, turning to leave the room.

Archer ran his tongue over his teeth, thinking quickly. He knew exactly what she was doing. Did he want to let her bait him like this? Was this part of her game?

Probably.

"I'm in," he said in the same tone as when he's asked to cook: Feigning inconvenience, or being put out.

"Oh?" Rin turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Then why are you still standing there?" She continued to her room, where all the markers were placed to seal the area. She never intended to go back to her studies, confident that Archer would follow, if for no other reason than to turn the tides on her if she turned out to be a poor dominant.

Archer decided it was worth playing along. He shut his eyes, smiled wryly to himself, then followed after Rin, in no true hurry to catch up.

He rounded the corner in time to see her anchoring restraints on a beam in the ceiling. Her magic flowed through them, strengthening them at the molecular level. She then performed the same task on the beam itself. He nodded his approval. She wasn't messing around. He leaned on the door frame, arms crossed, watching her pointedly. He followed her with his eyes, and saw she had also placed restraints in the ground, which she also strengthened, along with the anchors. His lips pulled back in a sharp smile. "You're serious about this, aren't you?" His tone was a little lower than normal. He'd thought about letting Rin lead for once, but didn't think it'd happen quite this quickly. She was always so careful when attempting a new task. She must have been obsessing over this.

Rin stood up straight and dusted off her skirt, sighing in satisfaction. "Well, it wouldn't be good if the apartment fell apart while I had you dangling over the edge." She gave him a piercing stare. "This should hold you without bringing the building down around us."

Archer bowed his head and grinned, biting the tip of his tongue. "Fair point."

"Now, get undressed and stand here," she instructed him, expecting him to follow along without complaint. He chuckled silently. He'd agreed to this, and it didn't seem like she meant for this to be a brat-versus-trainer situation the way their last session had gone. He quietly went to work, his clothes folded neatly and placed in an orderly stack on the nearby chair. Obeying her request, he stood at the middle of the room, his restraints waiting for him.

Rin watched him carefully. She didn't want to come on too strong right away. Not before he was restrained. She had seen his body plenty of times in the last few months, but today would be the first time she could explore it on her terms. When he stood ready at the place she'd chain him up, she saw he was completely composed. There was no defiance to his actions, and he was completely soft. The perfect starting point. She didn't want him to be excited too quickly. She wanted to work for it. "Right. Now clasp your ankles and one of your hands," she instructed him.

Archer bent down and clasped his ankles, the restraints allowing him to bring his legs to shoulder width apart, but no closer together. He sighed, then reachedup and restrained his left hand, clasping it firmly. She'd chosen padded restraints. He idly wondered if she'd want him to use them on her at a later time. He let his right hand fall to his side. "I'm not sure how you think you're going to get this other hand restrained with your short stature." It wouldn't be a day in their lives if he didn't flip her a little bit of shit.

Rin's sly smile at his blatant short joke put him at unease. She strode over to his side, brushed her fingertips against his forearm, and looked up at him with a catlike stare. "What makes you think I wanted both of your hands restrained?" Her tone was mockingly coy. "No," her volume dipped a little, so he had to listen more carefully. "I want to give you just enough rope to hang yourself with," she stared at him through her eyelashes, the brightness in her eyes stunning Archer, if only for a moment.

"All right," he agreed reluctantly. He was intrigued. He'd never seen a submissive partially tied down. Typically, if restraints were involved, it was all limbs. He rested his hand on his thigh, then stood still, letting Rin continue her game.

Rin traced her fingertips up his arm and across his shoulders, walking around behind him, then to the other side, breaking the line at his opposite shoulder and tracing a line down his side instead, stopping just above his hip. He was being patient, as usual, his breathing even, his form completely relaxed. She rounded on him, coming to stand in front of him. She took a step back and studied him, first looking at his eyes for any sign of disagreement. When she found none, she let her eyes linger on his broad chest and toned abdomen. He was battle-hardened, and though the months have been kind to them, they had kept in shape through self-defense training and sparring. She admired the V line where his abdomen and hips joined, then stepped forward again, reaching out and sprawling her fingers across his abdomen, just above his pubic area. She circled him again, letting her fingers and palm drag over his musculature, around his side, and came to rest on his hip. She leaned up and whispered in his ear, "I finally get to touch you the way that I want."

Her words surprised Archer in the reaction they elicited from him. A shiver ran through his body. His skin started to warm. _Am I blushing?_ Archer realized he had never let Rin explore him fully. She'd always let him lead. Now, he was at her mercy. And there were things she wanted to see and touch in her own way, on her own terms.

He was blushing.

Rin chuckled, a low, throaty, pleasant sound. "Embarrassed already?" She toyed with him, her hands moving to press firmly on his arse, then around to the front, her hands sliding down to his thighs when she pressed her front against his back. He grunted, in part from being pushed slightly while restrained, and in part because her maddening little hands had intentionally brushed against his cock, then moved away to rest on his legs. He swallowed back a biting remark, leaning back against Rin to counter the pressure.

Rin hummed her approval. "You just can't wait to feel my body on yours, can you, wretch?" She tested the insult, curled the fingers on one hand so her fingernails scraped delicately over the V line she'd been admiring before. His breath caught in his throat. His abdomen flexed against his will, her fingernails drawing out reflex action. "Oh?" She drew out the sound. "I thought you were supposed to answer when I asked you a question?" She teased him with his own tactics, reveling in his flustered state.

Archer growled lowly at her teasing, a warning. "Yes, Master," he answered with ease. After all, he'd called her 'master' since their first meeting.

Rin bared her teeth in a wicked grin, poking her tongue out from between her teeth, letting the tip run against the skin on his shoulder blades. "Mmm. You know, I thought I was going to react differently to hearing the same old nickname," she mused, "but I have _missed_ that name," she pressed harder against him, the hand still on his thigh coming up to cup his groin. She felt him tense, noticed his right hand flexing and tensing, efforts not to use it evident. Rin giggled lightly, though he was still soft, she felt him stir from her touch. "Having a hard time already?"

Archer hissed, threw his right hand up and against the remaining cuff. "Master, please, put me in full restraints." He was too composed for her liking. She frowned, drew back from him and stepped away. Archer waited, but his arm remained free. He heard a zip and some rustling behind him. It sounded like Rin was going through the contents of a bag. Faintly, he heard her conversing with herself, thoughtful noises, as though she were making up her mind. He tried to look behind him, caught only through his peripheral vision that she was crouched by a black travel bag. "Master?"

Rin looked up at him, tilted her head. "Why would I do that?" She rose from her crouch and approached him, circling around front. He eyed her warily. A bag meant toys, and toys could mean anything. She looked down at his half-erect cock and smirked. "I wanted to get to this before you went full mast on me," she explained. "Close your eyes," she demanded.

Archer hesitated. Rin puffed out her cheeks and reached up, placing her fingers over his eyes so he reflexively closed them. "I said closed. Don't make me repeat myself again," she said, an edge in her voice. Archer thrilled at her tone, but his eyes fluttered when he closed them. Rin grumbled. "I can't trust you not to look," she said, her voice laced with annoyance. She marched back to the bag and snatched something up, then whirled back around and stood behind him. She reached up, stretching to place the blindfold over his eyes. It had elastic on it, so she didn't need to tie it. It was snug on him, though, because it was her own sleeping mask. _Oh, well. Better than nothing, _she thought to herself. Satisfied with how it looked from the back, she returned to her place in front of him, making a few more slight adjustments, just in case there was a gap he could peek through. "There. Now you can't see."

"No, Master," he ground out. He was getting a sense of what she was planning to do with him. She left his right hand free for a reason, and was waiting for an excuse to turn it against him. She was a creative devil, he gave her that.

His jaw fell slack. Something was being secured around his cock, and her skilled, thin fingers pulled his balls through, a cool, hard object pressed to them from the back. _Oh, you little, _his brain cursed her. He felt her struggle with the mechanism a little bit, her quiet grunts and curses of frustration catching his attention. "There," she sighed, finally satisfied with her work. Now, let's see if," she trailed off, and he heard a click.

"Agh!" Archer jerked, his legs and left arm testing the restraints for the first time. The hard object nestled high against the back of his balls buzzed to life, vibrations weakening his knees as overwhelming sensations thundered through him. His right arm flexed painfully as he fought the urge to touch himself. He grit his teeth, unable to restrain the strangled moan that came as she clicked the button again. The vibrations ended.

Rin giggled lightly, pleased with herself. Here, they had barely begun, and he already wanted relief. She was amused and proud. But he wouldn't get off that easily. "Nope. Don't touch yourself, you wretch. You haven't earned that yet." She reached up and rested the crook of her hand against his throat, planting a gentle, teasing kiss to his lips, which did not respond. His jaw was clenched, eyes covered, and he was now fully hard. Her clothes scraped his cock as she leaned up to kiss him, and he was trying to swallow another noise. Rin pouted. "It's rude not to kiss me back, you know," her voice took on a deeper, more hostile tone. She backed up, and managed to get just out of reach before Archer could grab her with his free hand. "Oh, ho!" she exclaimed. "You think you can just grab me whenever you want?" Her voice was enraged, but her expression was filled with thrill and excitement. "Fine," she growled, "you can't be trusted at all with any freedom, can you?"

Without the ability to see, Archer relied on sound to suss out what was going on. He heard her casting a spell in the German language, the same spell she uses to reinforce her own body's strength. He gave a guttural growl in response to her words. She leveraged his arm up and locked it in place, easily breaking through his resistance, though it was token resistance at best. He wanted to be fully tied, and Rin knew that.

It didn't hurt to let him have his way a little bit.

Now fully at her mercy, Archer stood, arms above his head and knees apart, blindfolded, with a vibrating cock ring secured in place. Rin leaned back to take in the sight, her pulse quickening. "Much better," she said approvingly. "Now, wait here," she said, moving to leave.

Archer's brow furrowed. Waiting? That was much less fun than he was expecting.

"Oops. I almost forgot." She clicked the button again, and the vibrating ring resumed its work, though now at a much lower setting. Archer grunted, his hips throst forward. Rin chuckled darkly. She leaned up and nipped his earlobe. "Don't you cum yet. You won't like what happens if you do."

Archer snorted, smirking through his frustration. "Impossible."

Rin smirked at his insolence. "We'll see." Her footsteps retreated, and she left the area.

Left alone, hands and feet bound, the infernal buzzing of the vibrator sending teasingly pleasant sensations through his groin, Archer's mind was left to wander. He first tried to hear what Rin was doing, but she was too far away to accurately hear anything. He kept thoughts at bay that would lead to him orgasming too quickly, and had to take an active role in pushing away the stray thoughts of what Rin would do to him, or the things that he had done to her.

_Like making her crawl to me._

Archer clenched his jaw. One thought leads to another. Crawling leads to spanking. Spanking leads to the rest.

Minutes had passed, and Archer was warring with himself by the time Rin returned. He hadn't even heard her come in, and she smirked. "You really like that toy, huh?" She had watched long enough to see his erection twitch at a specific memory. The sound of her voice broke his spell, and he gasped, the restraints rustling from him attempting to move. "You look delicious," she moaned breathily, making a show of it. A bead of precum had formed on the tip of his cock, and she walked past him, letting the flat of her palm run up from his balls to the tip when she passed, dragging over the liquid.

Archer's knees buckled, but the restraints held. He cursed. His skin felt like it was on fire, every nerve in his body alive. Rin hummed. "You have a filthy mouth, wretch," she admonished him, reaching up to remove his blindfold. "You need to be awake for this part." Another click, and the cock ring turned off again. Archer was unsure if he welcomed the change.

Rin came back into view, wearing some beautiful black and red lingerie, an intricate, scale-like pattern covering her breasts and only the barst bit of her cunt, held together by strings. She wore thigh-high stockings with high-heeled, open-toed shoes. She spread her arms and turned slowly, in a great flourish. "What do you think?"

Archer blinked away some of the haze in his eyes, staring openly at Rin. His dark smile and the look in his eyes told Rin a lot, but he spoke anyway. "Master. That's an excellent look on you." He complemented her genuinely, having been directly asked what he thought.

"Hmm. Maybe you're not completely hopeless, then." Rin closed her eyes, shook her head, and placed her hands on her hips. "At least you have enough presence of mind to speak." She opened her eyes again, boredly playing with the precum still on her palm.

Archer's dark gaze intensified. He didn't struggle, but it looked like he was controlling his breathing to keep from looking too desperate. Rin raised an eyebrow at him and could not hide her smile. "Are you ready to begin?"

_Begin!_ Archer's brain exclaimed. _This isn't the beginning? How much did she look into this? When did she have the time? _He grunted and nodded, attempting to not let his thoughts stray too far, lest she see his hesitation.

"Good." Rin approached him again, now much better aligned with him, thanks to the high heels. She reached behind his head and fisted his hair, holding him iin place and staring directly into his eyes. "Now, kiss me back this time, idiot."

Archer's half-smile was consumed when Rin pressed her lips to his. She was gentle at first, her lips and tongue teasing his. Her free hand roamed down his pectoral muscles, then down his side, the smooth lines she drew marred by the lines of definition. She deepened the kiss, making him grunt in response, the hand reaching behind him and cupping his arse, kneading it. He groaned into the kiss, distracted by her actions so that he didn't notice when she moved her leg, draping it over his, exposing her cunt to him and using it to rub lewdly against his cock, grinding on him shamelessly.

He tried to break the kiss and gasp for air, but Rin held him in place, savaging his mouth with hers, stealing his ability to breathe, covering the sounds of his protest with her own muffled groans of pleasure, played slightly up to get into his head and drive him crazy.

She broke away suddenly, still holding his hair, her breath coming in quick puffs. She looked on his face, and he, too was in quite a state of breathlessness. His eyes were lit with his familiar hunger for her, a desire she intended to exploit today. She grinned evilly at him, making a smug noise as she released him from her hold. "Lick my breasts," she ordered him.

Archer dove forward, but his restraints held him in place. He had to stretch out to touch her skin with his tongue. He glared at her, insolence in his gaze. Rin tilted her head. "Is there a problem, wretch?"

He growled deep in his chest in response. "No, Master. I can reach you, if I try."

"If you try," she repeated mockingly, then laughed. "It's like you don't even want to touch me today. Honestly, you're so ungrateful," she snipped at him. "Is it this? Do you want to see my whole breasts? Is that the problem, why you're 'if' trying instead of just doing it?" She hooked her thumbs under her lingerie bra, then let go, her bosom bouncing slightly with the gesture.

Archer gulped. _Holy shit. She's good at this._ He bowed his head. "I apologize, Master. I'll do better," he groveled.

"See that you do," she shot back. "You've missed your chance for this," she groped her own tits in front of him, "but maybe you'll improve with this," she turned away from him, planting her hands on her behind, then walking away from him, to the cabinet beside the bed.

Archer glowered at her, staring squarely at her ass when her hands roamed over it. Out of nowhere, the cock ring buzzed, just once, with great intensity. He cried out, legs buckled and the beam on their ceiling creaking slightly at his weight. Rin smirked over her shoulder at him. "I put it on random. You get to be surprised by when my little friend decides to play." She crooked her pinkie finger at him and winked, then turned fully and walked back towards him, producing a bottle of oil.

_You filthy little shit,_ he cursed her, his wicked grin unrestrained at the scene as he surveyed it. She flipped the lid of the oil open, then poured some into her hand, then set the bottle down. She rubbed it between her hands, preparing. "I want you to watch. Don't you dare look away," she warned him.

He nodded his agreement, his look much more serious now that things have gotten good. He stared, unblinking as she turned away from him, her ass, barely covered by the skimpy G-string, arched back towards him. She leaned forward a touch, her hands both coming behind her as she rubbed the oil all over her ass cheeks. They moved in slow circles, her fingers gripping the muscle, effectively spreading herself wide in a show just for him.

She took her time, every inch of her coated in a thin sheen of the oil. She looked at him over her shoulder to find him staring, his rapt attention squarely on her ass. His expression was strained. He wanted to be near her. His cock pulsed in the open air, then leapt as the cock ring sprang to life, a lower, longer vibration sent out. His growl of frustration and pleasure sent a swell of pride through Rin. She took her hands away, turned and walked to him again, in the middle of the cock ring's vibrations, chuckling smugly. "Did you enjoy the show?"

Archer swallowed hard, nodded, but he didn't speak, his entire body tightened with frustration. She chuckled again. "Good," she purred, drawing the word out, pressing the blade of her tongue against the pulse point on his neck, leaving a wet, sloppy kiss there. Archer took in a sharp breath, eyes gone unfocussed. Rin moved to the front of him, pressing her slick, oiled behind against his cock, gyrating slowly against him, rocking her hips side-to-side. He tried to hold onto his mental faculties, to stand still while she did as she pleased. But she felt so damn _good._

Rin gave out a few breathy moans. While his cock sliding against her butt cheeks was more fun and torture, it wasn't strictly pleasurable for her. She loved to watch him squirm, to be under her influence and unable to do anything about it. She changed from moving her hips side-to-side, to an up-and-down movement, letting him slip between her butt cheeks, and sliding along her barely-there lingerie bottoms against her cunt.

Another strangled moan ripped from Archer's throat, the vibrator torturing him from behind, while Rin tormented him from the front. He began to sweat, unable to prevent his hips from rocking in time with her. _Fuck,_ was all his mind could come up with. His head leaned back, and his breath came to him in great, heavy panting.

Rin let this go on, the friction between her ass cheeks and thighs setting off her nerves, pleasure flooding her senses. She wanted more, but she wasn't done tormenting Archer. She stopped suddenly, his cock nestled between her thighs. He nudged at her a couple of times before he stopped, realizing she had quit moving. She felt him pulsing between her legs, and her face flushed a deep red, a moment of clarity showing her the situation at hand. She was unbelievably turned on, her clothing slick with oil, sweat, and her own juices. She slid away from him, agonizingly slowly, and she felt Archer leaning into her, prolonging the contact as much as he possibly could. She felt his cock drag between her folds and past the crack of her ass.

She groaned in frustration, turning to face him and scowling. "My clothes are ruined," she fake-complained. While she was pouting, she saw the state of Archer. He was ravenous for her, his body leaned forward as though he could break the restraints and come get her. If she hadn't reinforced the beam on the ceiling, he might have. The cock ring had begun a melody of rapid-fire buzzes, causing Archer to growl out loud, squirm actively against his bonds. Seeing him like this gave Rin a feeling of manic giddiness. She continued her playing, though. "I have to take these off," she muttered, making a show of removing her clothes, first her bra, then the panties. She left on the stockings, kept the high heels on. "There. That's better. Way less sticky," she grinned at Archer, pretending like he wasn't about to tear the apartment down just to bury his dick inside of her. "Oh, I remember what I was doing," she stated as if remembering why she walked into a room. She hurried past Archer, back to her bag. He lunged towards her, but was held in place, eliciting another growl of frustration from the man.

She came back with what was unmistakably a handheld Hitachi vibrator. This one had three prongs in it, rubber-like pieces that could each touch a certain area.

Archer narrowed his eyes at her.

"Remember, I want you to watch," she patiently explained to him. His mind was all but gone by this point, so she assumed he would do as she said. Not that there was much else for him to do. She smirked privately, feeling a small rush from the power she held over him. She tossed a few cushions on the floor in front of Archer, then arranged them so she could comfortably lie down. She stepped in front of him, just out of his reach, and smiled cheekily before kneeling down, her face inches from his cock, her breath brushing past it, before she leaned back onto the floor.

All sounds from Archer ceased, the room becoming eerily still. His hard stare bore into her. She could see, his cock was harder than she'd ever seen it. _Excellent,_ she thought to herself. She smiled mischievously at him as she placed the Hitachi wand perfectly, each prong in its spot: One on her clit, one against her cunt, and one against her asshole. She turned the dial on the toy, and gasped lewdly, the device stimulating her. It felt good, but what was doing it for her was the way Archer looked. She held the vibrator in place, and stared up at him, her eyes combing over him. "Fuck, you're a sexy wretch," she cursed at him. "When I'm all alone at night, all I can do is think about you and do this," she moaned throatily, arching her back when a wave of pleasure hit her.

Archer's breath started to fill the air again, shaky panting filling her ears. She stared up at him, whining with pleasure, watching him testing his bonds again. She started to pant, too, her eyes glazing a little. "Please, tell me that you want me, wretch. Tell me you want me." She cried out, feeling the heat coiling dangerously tight in her abdomen.

Archer roared, a sound so loud she's never heard him make, arms shaking with the effort to break free. "_Yes, _I fucking want you! _Fuck,_ Rin, if you wanted a dangerous ride, this is how you get one!" All pretenses of the Master-servant relationship evaporated from the scene, Archer having broken in his confession. His hands clawed at the air, his legs flexed as if he were going to leap on her.

Rin's blood surged. He's not usually this open about anything. It was an intoxicating feeling, knowing she could do this to him. She heard herself wailing as her orgasm hit, her body writhing and thrashing, bucking against the vibrations in the Hitachi.

She hadn't intended to cum just yet, but it happened. She panted raggedly, then stood, dropping the vibrator to the ground, her eyes hooded. She looked angry. "Why, you!" She glared at him, watched as he raged against his restraints. "You wanted to make me cum that bad? Two can play at that game," she growled out. "But you won't like it."

Archer's eyes blazed. Rin stood next to him, taking up the remote to the toy she had secured on him. She flipped it onto a constant setting, causing him to buck again. She was maddeningly calm compared to him, and she reached her hand out, letting a single fingertip brush along the underside of his shaft.

Archer choked, the contact painfully inadequate. Her finger slid up and down, just the one, not wrapping her hand around him, not squeezing him. Just the one finger, tracing a line over his tip and frenulum, down to where the cock ring settled, then up again, agonizingly slow, teasingly slow. His aggression turned to desperation, his growls turning to whines. He shook, unable to cum, though his cock leapt and spasmed as if cumming already. It truly began to hurt, an ache spreading in his balls and stomach. He was overly sensitive, and still, her damnable finger dragged over him, drawing out his torture.

"I'll bet you want to cum now, don't you?" She snarled into his ear. "Answer me," she demanded. When he couldn't articulate his answer, she concentrated her efforts on his frenulum, rubbing circles around it. He yelped brokenly, almost a sob.

"Yes, I want to cum," he ground out, defeated by this demon of a woman. "Please, can I?"

Rin's heart thrilled again. "Okay. I suppose you've been punished enough," she decided after a long moment of consideration. She hit the release on the cock ring, the entire mechanism dropping to the ground. Before it could hit the floor, Archer shuddered, his body spasming painfully as he came, grunting painfully as the sweet torture finally released.

By the time he'd finished, his body sagged against the restraints, a quivering mess. He bowed his head and panted, trying to catch his breath.

Rin smirked proudly, then set to work. She moved to undo the clasps on his ankles, then reached up and undid one of his wrists. She let him gain his legs so that he could undo the other one. He stared at her in awe. He had no idea she had _that_ in her. His strength was waning, so he shifted to sit, then lie across her bed.

"Where did you," he spoke between breaths, "learn to do that?" He'd experienced many things in his long life, but he didn't think that would ever be one of them.

Rin smiled. "You know I like to do my research," she sat next to him. "Did it hurt?" She was a little apprehensive about his answer, but she needed to know.

He chuckled. "Did I say 'carbon-dating?'" She shook her head. "Yes, it hurt. But it was worth it." He grabbed her and pulled her down with him. "And now I can barely move." He looked down at her. "Is that what you feel like every time?"

She laughed and swatted his chest. "You wish."

He grinned. "That's not a no," he pointed out.

"You're right," she agreed. "It's not a no." She smiled impishly at him. "Would you like to sleep in the bed with me, then? Since you can't move?"

"No," he said with a frown. "I want to sleep in your bed because it's comfortable, and you're in it, and if I sleep like a regular person, you don't have to use as much of your mana to keep me here."

Rin huffed a slight chuckle. "All right." She sighed and tucked in. They could worry about cleaning up later. Sleep came quickly to both of them.


	4. I Can Explain!

In the months following their arrival to London, Rin and Archer had gotten to know one another quite well. They'd also managed to keep under the radar of a certain red-haired roommate, which at first seemed like a long good luck streak. They had been careful, cautious, and timed their trysts in a way that would ensure their privacy.

Rin's magical barriers and glyphs helped, too.

But as time went on, it felt less and less like they'd been that lucky or that slick, and more like Shirou simply wasn't there. He had all but evaporated. Days could go on without a single sighting of Archer's alternative universe self, and when they did cross paths, it was usually in passing, barely a 'hello' uttered between them.

Rin wasn't even certain Shirou was _aware_ of Archer's continued presence in their world. It had been a couple years since the Grail War at this point, and at least as far as Rin knew, those two hadn't met.

Something about that tugged at the edges of Rin's comfort. She assumed that by now, she'd be confronted by Shirou, all stern-faced and white-knightish as he usually was. She'd played over and over again in her head how that conversation would go. _Tohsaka, how could you spend your magic that way? Don't you know this guy wants me dead? Why is he even still here? What could you possibly want with him?_ Or better yet, being caught in the act, and having to deal with a bumbling, stumbling, but still outraged and indignant Shirou Emiya. _What the FUCK, Tohsaka! Are you serious!? With HIM? You remember what he did, right?_ Blah, blah, blah.

Neither situation was one Rin _wanted_ to deal with, but she was ready for it. But it had been so long since she'd prepared for it that she started feeling frustrated. She'd come close to outing them on purpose, just to get it over with. Playing with Archer in secret had been fun. Indeed, it still was. But that part of this situation remained stagnant, and it _bothered_ her in ways she couldn't explain.

She sat at her desk, brow pinched in thought. She was now puzzling out how to break the news to Shirou, instead of how to hide from him. Bluntness? Just out with it? Maybe arrange so that they get caught? Drop hints for weeks until it gets through his stupid, thick head?

Rin snorted at her mental images of each new scenario she dreamt in her head about how a reveal would go. It always ended badly, though some outcomes were more humorous than others. She couldn't imagine a single one where Shirou took it well that she'd granted her own wish to keep her Archer servant around, a man who had on multiple occasions tried to murder Shirou in an attempt to cease his own existence.

Even that didn't weigh as much on her mind as his increasingly-suspicious absence. She was his sponsor into the Clock Tower, after all. He was able to better his magical ability due to her continued presence in his life. But he'd been gone a lot, sometimes overnight, and barely spoke to her.

Very suspicious, indeed.

He had been acting like a man who either held a high-demand job, or one who found someone to spend time with. Much like she had with Archer.

She had not noticed a bump in their finances, so him holding a job was not likely, unless it was an unpaid internship. Perhaps he'd picked up an apprenticeship under another teacher? She hadn't been around him for long enough lately to notice any change in his magical ability.

Rin wasn't a bad detective, but trying to figure this out was starting to give her a headache. She waved her hands in front of her face as if to dispel the thoughts she kept chasing, then stood and went to draw herself a bath.

The baths in the dorms weren't nearly as luxurious as the soaking tubs she was used to back in Japan. While she would have loved to visit a bath house, or find a spa, it was late and she didn't feel like tackling her broken English just to soak.

The single-person bath in their dorm would do. At least it filled quickly.

She heated the water so it steamed the entire washroom. She then added a solution to the bath water, making it smell faintly of peppermint. It was a luxury she only allowed herself once in a while, and today she needed it. She disrobed, tossing her clothes into a pile, and eased herself into the water, hissing when her more sensitive skin on her butt touched the water.

She leaned back and sighed, content to languish in this cocoon of heat. She felt the tension of the day relax its grip on her shoulders and neck, slowly releasing her headache in the process. She wished she had the presence of mind to include music in her relaxation, but that was a missed opportunity. _Oh, well,_ she thought dismissively, sinking further into her relaxed state.

Before the water could cool entirely, but after her skin had begun to prune, Rin emerged from the water, reaching for her towel and quickly drying before the warmth of the water seeped from her bones. She wrapped her long, black hair in the towel, threw on a big, fluffy bath robe, and left the washroom.

The jingling of keys signaled Shirou's presence. She sighed. Always at the oddest hours with this guy. She didn't bother hurrying to her bedroom to change. Why should she put herself out for an absentee roommate?

He managed to make it into the apartment before she completely disappeared into the hallway. "Oh! Hey, Tohsaka," he said in a tone a little too high, and a little too excited. She turned around in the hall and leveled a glance at him. Surely, him seeing her like this wasn't going to set off some prepubescent sense of modesty in him now? She saw him quickly recover, his look of shock replaced as he cleared his throat and stood up straight, a bad cover-up job, but at least he tried.

"Hey, Emiya," she tossed back, feigning boredom at seeing him. "Wow, I didn't expect to see you here."

He looked stunned again for a moment, unblinking, a familiar, yet immature hawkish look to his features that stirred her a little, but she maintained her cool. He looked hurt, then guilty, then nervous, all in the span of a second. "Yeah," was all he could manage, his gaze dropping to the floor, his eyes half-lidded. "I know. I've been gone a lot." He took a big breath in, then forced it out, as if psyching himself up. "I think we need to have a chat," he said, his tone very much like he was submitting an application for a job.

Rin blinked. "Okay," she said slowly. Had he figured them out? Was he going to confront her? She then remembered how she was dressed, then sighed. "Give me five minutes to brush out my hair and put on some pajamas," she answered. "Then we can talk."

"Sure," he said, a mix of relief and increased anxiety in his voice dueling in his tone. He was clearly happy she was willing to sit down with him, but it felt like he was hiding something. Something he wanted to reveal. Maybe he was under new tutelage, and wanted to leave the apartment. Maybe he can stand on his own at the Clock Tower now, and he doesn't need her anymore.

Somehow, those options seemed unlikely. Somehow, the thought of them twisted her guts in a most unpleasant way. Before those thoughts and feelings could manifest on her features, she turned on her heel and sped to her room, closing the door behind her.

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,_ Rin's brain was incapable of forming any other words, all rapid-fire and nonsensical. It was happening. It was really happening. Now. Tonight. Either he was going to confront her about Archer, or he was going to leave her for his own path. Neither option was inherently bad. She simply didn't realize she'd be facing it on her own. Archer, independent as ever, had gone off to do his own thing and left her to her thoughts hours ago.

She toweled off her hair one last time before donning her pajamas, the patterned button up top and sweat pants. She then raked her hairbrush through her locks, forcing the knots out, taking out one or two particularly gnarled clumps out, small, unnoticeable, but uncomfortable all the same. Rin was in a hurry, but she would be damned if she faced this particular trial with a rat's nest to deal with afterwards.

When she was satisfied she'd combed her hair enough, she took in a deep breath, then gave a light sigh. She paused in front of her bedroom door, hesitating, hoping that maybe Archer would appear in ethereal form and back her up from the shadows.

No such luck. She was on her own. Not that she was a stranger to that. Still, she imagined this would be most unpleasant.

She reached for the door handle and opened it, expecting to find Shirou about to knock on the door with timing a sitcom would envy. But the hallway was empty. There was no noise coming from the kitchen. She padded out to the living area and found him sitting patiently on the couch, reading a book. He really did make a great show of actually reading, but she knew he was hiding his anxiety behind those pages. His knee was bouncing. He was _really_ nervous.

But his poker face was immaculate.

He looked up at her with a calm confidence, his eyes directly on her. "Are you ready to talk now?" he asked with his trademark pensive tone whenever he tried to impress the importance of a point he was trying to make. He did blink, but not excessively. His eyes didn't dart around the room like a scared cat. He was serious this time.

Instead of giving her typical sarcastic reply, Rin nodded, adopting an air of dignity, sitting on a chair across from Shirou. "What is it you wanted to talk about?" Her voice was aloof as she could make it, bordering on total disinterest. Maybe she laid that on a little _too_ thick.

Shirou sighed. His eyes bore into her as he chewed on what the next words out of his mouth should be. He spoke in measured tones, as though trying not to spook her. "I know he's here."

Rin stilled entirely, not breathing, not blinking, not swallowing. She had so many replies for this, she couldn't settle on one and seized up. Shirou nodded in affirmation. "That settles it. He is here." Odd, Rin thought, that he appeared to have known for a while, but confronting her now, he wasn't exhibiting any of the behavior she'd come to expect from him. In fact, he seemed pleased with himself that he'd puzzled it out, and that his statement to Tohsaka had confirmed his suspicions.

Rin finally breathed again, felt her face heat under his stare. "How'd you figure it out?" Her tone was deceptively calm, though her fingernails dug into her palm.

Shirou chuckled, but without humor. "Look at this place," he gestured broadly. "It's spotless. The leftovers in the fridge? My recipes. The placement of the cooking utensils? My way of putting them away. Everything down to the location and type of cleaning supplies. All things I _would_ do, but it wasn't me that did them. Well. Not _this_ me, anyway." He then let his gaze shift down, looking at the coffee table between them.

Rin loudly cursed in her own brain. Undone because Archer was too stubborn and set in his ways to change something as simple as any of that. For a strategically-minded individual, Archer sure messed this up. So did she, just by letting it happen and overlooking something as obvious as that. _Of course_ it was his habits that outed them. It wasn't going to be something as simple or theatric as being caught red-handed. They weren't going to bump into each other in the streets of London. That was never going to happen.

She felt incredibly stupid for being caught this way. In the middle of her brain short-circuiting, Shirou spoke again. "There's more," he said, his voice more tense than before.

Rin looked up at him, dread in her eyes. This was it. This was going to be the killing blow to their friendship.

"I still have Saber."

_WHAT!_

Rin sputtered in disbelief. She _knows_ Saber disappeared in the Grail War. She _felt, saw, and heard_ her goodbye. "How?!" was all she could blurt out. The logistics didn't make any sense. He had no serious magic power of his own. He couldn't bind her the way she bound Archer. She knew he didn't win any prize from the Grail, because the Grail was a disgusting, corrupted field of ooze.

She shuddered at the memory of that black mud.

Shirou shrugged. "I'm just as lost as you," he admitted. "But when I woke up, she was there. I don't understand it, either." He leaned forward and pointed at Rin. "But I know how Archer is still here, Rin," his warning glare was mild at best. "If you were any other mage, I'd condemn your actions. But your power is enormous. You probably barely break a sweat keeping him here," he smirked, a tired, sarcastic look on him.

Rin thought for a long time. The details of the Grail War her father took part in were clear to her, at least in the way Kirei had taught her. He was a liar and a murderer, but he educated her on the particulars of the Grail Wars that came before the one in which she took part. She pored over the details in her mind, piecing together a theory. "Maybe Saber got her wish?" It was a weak offering, but given the information at hand, it was the best she could do.

"That's what I think, too," he agreed, gesturing with his hands, his nervousness abating a little at their shared theorizing. "I'm not exactly learned on the subject, but it's the best fit, and as good an explanation as any."

"Mm-hmm," Rin nodded in agreement. "Maybe shattering the grail monster and that disgusting, cursed goop was what needed to happen for the wish to be granted." She leaned back in her chair and looked up to the ceiling, letting her mind drift with the thoughts. "I've never heard of it being used that way, though. Japan's Holy Grail was corrupted, according to the records I've been able to research," she explained to the room, though Shirou was the only other occupant. Her thoughts drew inward, and she focused down at the coffee table, her words silenced, but her mind shifting through a thousand thoughts.

"Uh, Tohsaka?" Shirou waved his hand at Rin, trying to break her concentration. "Hello? We're still talking, here."

Rin's brow, having been creased in thought, smoothed as she snapped out of her focus. She cleared her throat and sat up straight, adopting her typical scowl. "There's more?" She blinked, her gaze searching. Shirou appeared uncomfortable, as though preparing for an outburst.

She wasn't going to like what he had to say.

His body language put her guard up. She didn't like it when Shirou stepped around eggshells with her. Still, she waited, though not patiently, for him to gather his courage. Her own spinal muscles were tensed, giving her an air of intimidation, though she didn't intend for that.

Shirou finished rolling his neck, scratching his arm, shaking his shoulders, shifting in his seat, and all the other stall tactics he used to piss her off. Then, he sighed. "Saber - sorry. Artoria and I have started a relationship." His fists were on his knees, knuckles white with his iron grip. He stared at her, unblinking, eyes wide, brows low, searching for hostility.

All he found was a dumbstruck look. Rin's mouth hung open, her eyes wide for a moment, then all tension seemed to leave her body at once as she started to laugh, a true, hearty, relieved sound that frightened Shirou more than it eased him. "Uh. Are you okay?" Shirou began to sweat. He didn't feel like taking an energy bolt to the face because he trusted Rin's good humor.

After that big, belly laugh, Rin had reclined on the chair she was in, sighing, relaxed. She wiped a tear from her eye, then grinned at him. "Good for you, Emiya. I'm glad you two have each other," she said with a genuineness that, again, Shirou couldn't bring himself to trust.

"Wait." He finally opened his hands, then made motion as though he were holding a calculator. "I thought you'd be angry."

Rin smirked at him, amusement clear in her features. "And why should I be jealous?"

Shirou shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I mean," he looked down and away, "I thought, maybe, since we were living together, and..." He trailed off, his face reddening in humiliation.

Rin tented her fingertips together and crossed one knee over the other, hiding her grin from him, trying not to embarrass him too much more. "You thought I might want a relationship with you," she stated, not asking.

"Yeah." Shirou bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, refusing to make eye contact with Rin.

Rin chuckled, a sound that was genuine, but not mocking. "No, Shirou. I like you well enough, and we've been through a lot, but no." Her tone was gentle, but her words were a clear rejection of the notion.

Encouraged by her words, Shirou looked up at Rin to see there wasn't a hint of derision on her face. She wasn't repelled by the idea of a relationship with him. She simply had other plans. He took his turn to smirk at her. "So you pick a future version of me instead?" He got bold and teased her on her choice.

"I didn't tell you that!" She snapped, a blush coloring her all the way down past the neckline on her shirt. She covered her face with one hand and used the other to ward him off. "Stop jumping to conclusions!"

Shirou laughed heartily, getting all the confirmation he needed. He stood from his seat and flashed another insolent smirk at her, reminding Rin that, yes, Archer is, in fact, Emiya from a different timeline. She scowled deeply at him, making him laugh again. He started towards the door to leave. "I'm glad we've cleared that up. You don't have to hide anymore. And neither do I." He pushed his shoes on, turned and waved to a deeply blushing Tohsaka. "I'll see you later, Rin!" Before she could retort, the door was closing behind him and his footsteps retreating.

Rin looked down at her hands, then sighed. There was no way that could have possibly gone any better. Did she miss something? Was there a detail she overlooked, or something they forgot to mention? It went too quickly, and he was too understanding.

But then, so was she. She quickly accepted that Saber was still around for an unknown reason and by unknown means.

Whatever the case, it had been years. Both Saber and Archer remained. Both Rin and Shirou were happy. Most importantly, Rin and Archer didn't need to hide anymore. A huge part of her was relieved. The waiting game was over.

She'd need to have a long talk with Archer when he got back from wherever-he-was. He _had_ to have known the way he cleaned and cooked would tip Shirou off eventually, and he chose to leave her out of the plan. That pricked at her calm, and it irritated her, though mildly. What's done is done. But he was getting a healthy ration of shit when they met again.


	5. No Remorse

A few days had passed since Rin spoke with Shirou, and so far the other shoe hadn't dropped. There wasn't some big, secret, ominous thing hanging in the air. Rin couldn't even force herself to pretend there was an unseen problem, and she was queen of worst-case scenarios.

The days went slow, and her lack of Archer around made her tense. She had cooled off from her initial rage regarding what she was now convinced was an intentional slip-up. _Damn him,_ she cursed, though even in her head, the epithet was half-hearted, and perhaps even a little warm. That he'd gotten to know her this well was something Rin had to get used to. She was a mage, after all. Letting people get close was not in the survival playbook.

But, Archer _wasn't_ a person. Not truly. He had all the appearances of being human and had his own personality, sure, but he was, at the root of it, her familiar. She wasn't in denial about that. Her mana stores, while considerable, had been taxed at all times. She was never at full power with Archer here, and as a result and a precaution had been training to strengthen her body and deepen her mana reserves.

She'd been at the dining table, a book cracked open, with her leaned over it, rested on her elbows. It had been a long day, but she was close to a minor breakthrough in her latest plateau of magic training. It was nothing big, really. There seemed to be natural inhibitors that prevented a magus from accessing their entire stores of magic power, she supposed as a means of keeping the mage alive. It was something like having just enough gas in the tank to get the car home. It mimics total mana depletion, causing the mage to fall asleep or pass out when their power is close to being used up.

Part of her didn't want the breakthrough. Still, tools were tools. She'd rather know something than not.

"I leave for a few days, and you let it get like _this?" _Archer's voice broke her concentration, but she couldn't help cracking a small smile when he continued his rant. "You put the serving spoons in the drawer? Really?" He was picking a tiny fight, knowing Rin didn't give a single thought to where things went, so long as they fit and were out of the way.

She sighed and shrugged. "What can I say. I figured a change might do some good." She looked up at him through her bangs, her eyes bright with mirth. She was pushing back.

Archer scowled at her, then set to work, righting all the wrongs Rin had committed in his kitchen while he was away, muttering things like, "You don't put serving spoons in with the eating utensils," and "Putting the knives tip-up in the drying rack's going to get somebody cut." Every now and then, he'd shoot a glare at Rin, whose growing amusement at his show of frustration spurring him on.

"I'm sorry, did you think I'd not pay attention when I put the dishes away?" Her voice was light and airy, almost sing-song in her mockery.

"You didn't put them away at all!" Archer pointed to the drying rack, full of dishes. He growled and pinched the bridge of his nose, then put his hand down and flashed a smirk at her. "Are we good at domestic arguments yet?"

"Meh," Rin shrugged and grinned. "My heart's not in it, and neither is yours. By the way, Shirou is aware of you and Saber is still around."

Archer paused, stunned at the wave of information she casually tossed his way. "You wanna run that by me again?"

"Shirou figured you out because of your militant cleaning style and your culinary genius," she explained more slowly. "You _are_ a version of him, and he caught you."

Archer shook his head. "Took him long enough," he muttered.

"Sorry, what?" Rin leaned in, turning her head so her ear was pointed more in his direction. "I didn't quite hear you. Did you say, 'Of course he did, because I planned it that way?'"

Archer stared at her and his scowl deepened, a habit he developed to buy time while trying to plan his next move.

"I'm waiting," she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, the amusement in her eyes something she couldn't hide, even if she wanted to.

Archer shut his eyes and sighed. "How did he take _that_ revelation?"

Rin puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "He made fun of me for picking a future version of him."

Archer looked down and away to hide the amusement he felt. "Kid has balls."

"You would know," she snarled, her hostility a show.

"So would you," he retorted, looking her in the eyes.

"Would I?" Rin gave a coy smile, stood fluidly from her chair and started towards Archer, who had abandoned his quest to right the state of the kitchen. "Are you suggesting I've seen _that _Shirou Emiya's balls, Archer?" He carefully watched her approach, refusing to let her circle around behind him. She giggled at his defensiveness. "Because, if they're anything like _yours_, I'd be forced to agree." She stopped in front of him, making direct eye contact, watching him squirm mentally at the highly private comparison. He then offered a sharp smile, more like baring his teeth at her as he chose, painstakingly, to take her words as a compliment.

"Fine," he forced the word through his teeth, his eyes ablaze with her challenge. "I walked into that one." He glared down at her. That damn mischievous smile, her sharp wit, her body language, all built to get under his skin. He _adored_ it. Seeing her expression shift from amusement to triumph stirred Archer in a twisted way. She beat him with wits today. He'd have to gain the upper hand again, and he had some ideas on how to do just that.

His weight shifted forward. His frame towered over Rin's. Slowly, he moved forward, intent on walking through her if she didn't back up.

Rin's moment of triumph and the swell of pride she felt at besting him was fleeting. Her eyes had closed momentarily, her grin having gotten so wide they shut. When she opened them again, Archer loomed over her, and advanced. Defiantly, she let him run into her, made him use his body to push her back. She didn't break eye contact with him, nor he with her. She was forced to stop when she backed up against the counter top. Archer advanced still, pressing his body to hers, leaning his upper body over hers, resting his hands on the counter behind her, a devious smile gracing his features when he pinned Rin between him and the cabinet. Still, he advanced, pushing her with his chest so she was bent over backwards. He leaned down, pressing his cheek to her temple, speaking in a low, rolling tone, "But you've _tasted_ mine."

Rin tensed and flushed at his reminder. She instantly heated, felt her blood rush at his tone. She huffed out a breath, a sort of laugh, which earned her a sharp nip at the soft skin of her neck just below her ear. She grit her teeth, trying to force herself to quiet, but a groan still tore from her shut mouth, muffled. That caused Archer to chuckle, a taunting sound. He didn't lick the spot he'd bitten like he normally would, making Rin squirm beneath him. The edge of the counter pressed into her back, forcing her to grunt in discomfort.

Archer's breath slowed much in the same way it did when he was aiming his bow. Here, pressed against Rin, holding her in a compromising position, feeling her squirming under him and whimper in pain hit all the right spots for him. He lingered, let himself feel her move under him, but didn't offer any kind of movement of his own, only breathing, his cheek still pressed to the side of her head. He let a growl rise up from his chest, a rumbling sound that shook Rin to her toes. "And. You. _Loved._ It." He rolled his body against hers ever-so-slightly with each word.

Rin shivered under Archer, his slight movements flooding her mind with the memories of what those motions mean. Her jaw relaxed and she gave a sharp sigh. Her hands reached up to touch his chest, but he intercepted her, one hand at a time, pinning them down beside her head. She tried to turn her head to look at him, but he would not move his head, would not let her look at him yet. She knew he wanted her to fight back, but she loved how he carefully and methodically subdued her. She let the scraps of her irritation regarding Archer's plan gather, and she sneered at him. "At least _he_ had the guts to tell me what was going on."

Archer stilled, hiding his wicked grin from Rin. He sighed heavily, his expanded lungs causing Rin to be pushed even harder against the counter. "Your reactions had to be genuine," he explained carefully. Rin could hear his smirk in his tone, a sound that excited her and annoyed her at the same time. She took in a breath to say more, but his teeth sank into her skin again, this time holding on for a few seconds, his growl at her sounding a lot like a disguised moan. She yelped and jerked in his hold, squeezing her eyes shut at the mix of pain and lust coursed through her. "Are you implying I'm gutless?" he said in a mocking tone, feigning patience, though Rin knew in this game, she was walking a paper-thin line. "Comparing me to an idiot who threw himself into death, time and again, without a plan?"

There was more heat and tension in that statement. Rin writhed under him. She knew he was talking as much about himself as he was Shirou, and it seemed maybe she came too close to an actual insult than a playful jab. He nipped more gently at the edge of her ear, lazily rocking against her, waiting for her to answer. _Damn everything,_ she couldn't put together a coherent thought. She could come up with nothing better, and so spoke in a shaky voice, "Sorry, I..." She felt guilt prick at her heart, even knowing he probably didn't mean she actually insulted him. "... I didn't mean it that way."

"Oh?" Archer's reply came instantly, like he expected it. He lifted his head away, though kept his hands on her wrists, keeping her in place, though now he wasn't using his weight to press her down. He looked down at her, his expression stern, as if considering her words. "Rin Tohsaka said something that wasn't carefully considered?" He inclined his head, mischief in his expression. "That's unheard of."

Rin looked up at him, taken out of the moment a little bit by the observation. She sneered at him, her fury starting to build. He was toying with her! She jerked in his hold, attempting to get to him, but he had her pinned thoroughly. Besides, her attempt to lash out was flimsy, and she settled on a weak glare, openly staring him in the face.

While Archer would love to draw out more guilt from her to satisfy his mental sadism, he felt the need for leniency. She was trying to apologize. However, if she continued in this manner for much longer, he'd need to openly forgive her, and that would end the game. Patiently, he waited. Seeing her acting so nonthreatening prickled at the back of his neck. He preferred either submission or defiance. This apologetic demeanor didn't suit Rin at all.

He pulled back from her, took her hand in his and pulled her to a standing position. She furrowed her brow in confusion. Archer pulled her by the hand and spun her around, the hand he pulled her with twisted behind her back in a way that restrained her, but was not too painful. He traced the fingertips of his free hand over her hip to her belly, then trailed up, slowly traveling up the valley between her breasts, coming to rest with the crook of his hand cradling her throat. His fingers were relaxed, resting on her neck. He felt her lean into him, arching her back so she could rest her head against his shoulder, causing only mild strain on her arm to do it. His breathing deepened again. He growled into her ear, pulling her tighter to him by applying the slightest pressure to her throat. Most of the pull was done with his arm linked around her, but the hand on her throat would still constrict her airway enough to give her a taste of what he had planned.

Rin shuddered in his hold. Even clothed, his touch still lit sparks in her, electricity surely flowing from his fingertips, through her blood, straight to her groin. She sighed openly and lewdly, her body squirming in response to his touch. The growling timbre of Archer's voice coupled with his touch brought her right back into the moment. "You tell me if this is to much," he warned her as he pressed his jawline to her cheek, unable to reach her to bite her from this angle. She only nodded, opened her eyes to try and see him, but they were too close, so she closed them again and squirmed against him, wordless in her request for _more._

Archer chuckled, let go of her hand, but not her throat. His now-free hand found grip on her hip, pulling her roughly against him. Rin anchored herself by placing her hands on the counter, using that leverage to push her butt up against Archer, grinding against him in unison with his rolling, lazy motions. He took in a slow, deep breath, then sighed, pressing his lips to Rin's temple, allowing his grip on her neck to tighten just slightly.

Rin felt her airway constrict, but noticed that his grip was much more concentrated on the sides of her neck and not actually on her wind pipe. She could still breathe, but he definitely had control of how well she could. A familiar rush surged through Rin's body, her skin heated and her pulse quickened. Her fight-or-flight response. Her body reacted to his as though she were afraid.

She _liked _it.

She tensed and whimpered, bowed her head down from where it was once on his shoulder. His grip kept her from leaning forward. She was trapped between him and the counter. She felt him nuzzling the back of her head, humming as though in deep thought. As his grip tightened, his arm pulled her tighter to him as well. He rested his chin on top of her head, the hand on her hip sliding down to hold the front of her thigh instead, rubbing big, slow circles there with his palm. She felt him speak through the vibrations in his throat and chest. "There are no wards here," he reminded her, his voice low, but taunting. "No magical barriers. Nothing to keep anybody from walking in," he leaned down to say the last part directly against her ear, "and see me bending you over this counter top."

She froze in his grip, apparently still cognizant enough to recognize what he was saying, but far gone enough that she relaxed shortly after, nodding. He hummed his approval, nudging her face to the side and exposing her shoulder to him. He laved his tongue over her skin, slow, sweeping strokes, let the edge of his teeth scrape along her flesh, but didn't bite down. He released her throat, slid his hand down her side to her other thigh, both hands now holding her there, forcing him to lean down, bending her forward. His fingernails dragged up her thighs to her hips, then her sides, until both palms rested around her waist, thumbs curled around to her back. He loved the way she felt, soft in all the right places. But he preferred when she fought back.

Rin felt Archer move away from her, snapped out of her adrenaline rush and her mind fogginess by his unexpected absence. She stood up straight and turned to face him, lifted an eyebrow in question. "I thought you were going to bend me over the counter?" Her voice was measured and controlled, but given just how aloof she sounded, he knew she was laying it on thick. Still, she rested a hand on her hip and shifted her weight, leveling a look at him, waiting for his reply.

Archer made a show of readjusting himself, the line in his slacks pronounced. His eyes were half-lidded, and his lips were parted, the tip of his tongue bitten between his teeth as he regarded her. "That _was_ the plan," he explained, "but you went too easy."

Rin's brow creased in irritation. "You stopped because I _wanted_ it?"

Archer lowered his head, his eyes not leaving hers. "I _paused_ because you were too _eager,_" he emphasized. He made a smug 'heh' at her flustered response. "It's almost as if you _want_ to get caught." He lifted his head again and crossed his arms, watched her carefully.

She played right into his hands, her face burning a deep red color. "That's not-! I didn't-! You're just-!" She couldn't get out a whole accusation, and her poor defenses and genuine humiliation at the suggestion urged Archer to continue. His devilish grin creased his features, giving him a positively predatory appearance. Rin met his look with a glare, her teeth grit in annoyance. She snorted, then walked past him in hard steps, grasping his hand and dragging him with her. "Come with me," she demanded, making sure to move past him before he could see her bite her lip. _Why_ did that look always turn her on so much?

He went along with her after a token resistance, making sure she was serious about her demands. He allowed himself to be pulled along, then found himself all but thrown onto the couch, sitting in the middle cushion. Now at a lower height than Rin, he was forced to look up at her, his grin gone, replaced with his own scowl.

He didn't get much of a chance to appraise the situation with Rin pushing him against the back of the couch. She steadied herself as she straddled him, resting her knees on either side of him, her hands on his shoulders, looking down on him with a hint of derision. His eyes narrowed. She stood up on her knees, preventing any friction between them. Still, he let his hands slide up and down her hips and sides, watching, waiting.

Rin's lips turned up in a wicked smile. "You thought _that_ was eager?" She chuckled. Her smile bared her canines to him. The wicked glittering in her eyes showed him the depths of her impatience for his fuckery. He met that gleaming, vicious grin with a darkening smirk, a shade cast over his eyes. She leaned down to him, moving her hands to cradle his head on her arms, her bosom pressing intrusively under his chin. Rin's tone dropped an octave. "I'll _show you_ eager." Having caged him beneath her, her hair a curtain to blot out the ambient light, she savored the moment. It wasn't often she trapped him this way, and he seemed content to stay under her power, for now.

Archer's jaw slackened, just enough for him to run his tongue over his lips. His hands crept up from the cushions on the couch, up Rin's thighs, cupping his hands over her ass and pulling her against him, forcing her to grind with him. He reveled in the hot sigh she made that brushed over his skin, the new visibility that came with Rin tilting her head back in pleasure, the expert way her hips rolled in time with his. Between them, his slacks and her panties provided cloth barriers, and though flimsy, were quite effective for what Archer wanted.

He had adjusted himself conspicuously earlier, not to hide his growing erection, but to allow it as much freedom of movement within those confines as he could give it. The tip of him pressed hard against the divot in Rin's panties, earning him a more audible sigh that sounded suspiciously like a muted moan. He watched her reactions, studied as she reacted to him, making no effort whatsoever in concealing her desire for him.

His blood blazed through his veins. While he loved it when Rin held back and made him coax her out of her tsundere shell, this side of Rin was a treat. She only acted this way when she chose to take control of the situation.

Rin let a small whine escape upon feeling Archer pressing his cock against her entrance through their clothes. _Damned clothes_, was the best her mind could come up with. Her arms still hung loosely around Archer's neck, her height advantage all but stolen when he pulled her down to grind with him. Normally, this would be his length pressed to her slit, his cock nudging her clit until she couldn't take it anymore. Today, though, he _teased_ her. That intrusive feeling of his hardness pressing into her, however slight, was a new sort of pleasure. Her lust for him mounted rapidly. An ache in her core like a hunger pang sent her body to action.

She lolled her head to the side to give him a sly grin, looking down just in time to watch him bite into her breast, his eyes bright and staring defiantly up at her, unblinking. She sucked in a sharp breath, her body tensed. He'd bitten her hard, to make her feel it through her blouse. Her grin was ruined, replaced with what must have been a look of surprise, pain, and shock, quickly followed by another, fuller roll of her hips. Archer moaned against her breast, muffled. He released her, then nuzzled the spot he bit, his actions far from gentle, her chest jostled by his affection.

Rin snarled at Archer, pushed him back against the couch and took his lower jaw in her hand, staring him hard in the face before she forced him to look away. Archer grunted in shock from her treatment, eyes wide as she returned his bite to him, the edge of her teeth sunk into the juncture of his neck and shoulder. He hissed, tried to resist, but it was a pathetic, token attempt. Rin didn't exactly physically overpower him, but as he was prepared to make a move, she chuckled breathily against the spot she bit, her small, pink tongue sliding over the spot as well. "I want you, Archer," she said, her voice heated, but still devious, challenging. Archer answered with another groan, his brow creased and eyes narrowed near the point of closing. Rin playfully nuzzled her nose behind his ear, drew his earlobe between her teeth, nipped at and sucked the skin there. Archer stilled, his breath starting to come in small puffs. She felt his cock throb between them, to which she replied, "Oh," in an approving moan, sounding much more sexualized than she'd meant it. "_Now_ who's eager?" She taunted him, lifted her hips just slightly and settled back down on him, his length now in line with her slit.

Archer's fingers dug into Rin's ass, the grip spreading her wider, though nothing he did in that regard would expose her cunt to him. Even if he could, simply by gripping her ass, there was still the pesky issue of his slacks. He forced a smug laugh, trying to look at her, but she was too close to him.

Rin pulled back, sat back onto his thighs, his hands sliding to her hips. She gave him a look of appraisal, as though deciding something, casually reaching up to undo the first button at the top of her shirt. She wanted him to watch her, and to her delight she found he watched her with rapt attention. He stilled, controlled his breathing, she recognized, as she undid each button, one at a time, slowly, surely. She offered peeks of her through the opening line in the garment, revealed the absence of her bra as she passed her bust line and moved lower.

Archer's mouth was pressed into a hard, thin line, his eyes wide and unblinking, his breath steady, slow, and deep. He was on high alert. His heart thundered in his chest, his rational thought slowly being taken over by instinct. His lips and tongue tingled, a profound _need_ to taste her threatening to overtake him. Instead, he stayed his hand, watched her carefully, lingering on the empty space where her bra line should have been.

Rin made a smug sound at Archer's open staring, her deft fingers finally undoing the final button on her blouse. She let her hands fall to her sides, looking down at a very well-behaved Archer.

Her movements ceased, and Archer looked up at Rin's face, finding there an amused expression, that damned catlike grin threatening, again, to undo him. He clenched his jaw, his eyes became hooded, and unwilling to hold himself back in the face of her inaction, he lunged forward, his hands quick to move to her back so he didn't push her off of him by accident. He pressed his face against her bosom, the soft, yet firm flesh there now bare to him. He pushed the fabric out of the way with his face, planting sloppy, open-mouthed kisses onto her skin.

Rin keened in his hold, pitched slightly forward by his sudden movement, catching herself from falling on him, her hands once more on his shoulders. "Archer," she breathed, her mind hazy. At the mention of his title, Archer's teeth scraped against her skin in a lazy attempt at a bite. One of Rin's hands found its way to Archer's hair, encouraging his attention.

Archer rumbled, a deep, approving sound that emanated from his chest. The hand in his hair gripped at him, pulled at his follicles, burned more of his patience away. His fingers snaked up Rin's back to her shoulders. He managed to grab hold of Rin's blouse, and he tugged slightly, encouraging Rin to move her arms so he could remove the garment for her. He smiled against her skin when he heard her grumble in protest, apparently not wanting to break away from him in the middle of his thorough attention.

When Rin leaned up to allow him to remove her blouse, Archer took the opportunity to nibble the undersides of her breasts. Rin yelped, a hybrid of a moan and a shout when he lingered there, then moved yet lower, to one side, pressing his teeth against her ribs. The uncontrolled moans and squirms he received from that, alone was worth his patience.

While he was busy with that, Rin had gathered the bottom of his black shirt between her fingers, pulling up slowly, running into that roadblock of him touching her. Again, she whimpered in frustration, having to push him away from her so she could discard his clothes. Part of her _really _wished he would simply evaporate his clothes for her, but the other part of her was grateful he made her work for it.

That part of her was rewarded when she looked down on Archer's face. She had pulled his shirt up and over his head, throwing it haphazardly behind her, and that _look_, the one that somehow was at the same time triumph, mischief, and a driven lust made her core clench. She wanted desperately to feel him inside of her, to feel his cock press into her depths, to feel his hands all over her body, to hear him try _so hard _not to moan for her by controlling his breathing. She was stricken by the strength of her desire for him, frozen in place on top of him. She met his stare, her brow pinched in the middle, her lower lip drawn between her teeth as she chewed it, trying desperately to remain in control of herself a little bit longer.

Archer's smirk turned quickly to a snarl, his own control starting to slip. He saw the look in her eye long before her features matched it. His amusement was gone, and now, he was so turned on that his want turned to a genuine need for relief. Watching her features morph into that pouty, needy mess destroyed his resolve. He growled at her, in part from frustration, in part from his growing hunger for her. He leaned back hard against the back of the couch, lifting his hips, forcing himself to thrust roughly against her. She gave a lewd cry, so damn sexual that he had to focus just to grasp the waist of his slacks and force them down, the fabric rubbing harshly against them both. He could get his clothes down to just below his knees, allowing him some small freedom of movement.

Feeling Archer's sudden movement, being jostled and forced hard against him made Rin's heart leap, the bruising feeling of his hard flesh against her cunt lips forcing the air from her lungs as she gave a lewd outcry. Rin planned on being open about what she wanted and how she was feeling during their play today, even if she didn't articulate that much to Archer. The band in his slacks scraped down the insides of her thighs, the clasp on the front dragging harshly against her center, earning Archer a sharp yelp from her as a bonus. "_Fuck!_" Rin cursed, feeling hot all over from the merciless friction.

Archer again bared his teeth in a grin that could darken the sun. "As you like," he spoke, his voice breathless and husky. He reached between them and hooked the crotch of Rin's panties with his finger, moving them aside, exposing her to him, the heat of her core radiating onto him. She spread herself wide, steadying herself so she could stand on her knees while he aligned himself.

Rin wanted to squirm and writhe above Archer even before he pressed against her. She huffed a sigh that was meant to be a moan, her voice stolen briefly by the sensation of Archer's tip sliding through her folds. He slickened himself with her juices, making sure to press the tip of his cock against her clit, forcing her to mewl and whine, the pleasure an assault, but not enough to get her off. _More_ teasing.

Archer carefully lined himself up, finding the small dent in her flesh that would guide him into her. He pressed there, the tip of him barely cresting past her lips. She shifted above him, the desire she had for him going quickly to a deafening roar when his tip seated just outside of her, lined perfectly up, but making no moves to push into her.

Her breath coming in slight, whimpering puffs threatened to break Archer. He savored her frustration, though it mirrored his own. He reveled in the fact that, even now, Rin wanted him so damn bad. She was so tense with her lust that she began to shake, her self-control all but gone. Still, she held her ground, determined to keep the upper hand as much as she could. Through slightly-swollen lips, she spoke. "I know what you want," she said, her tone deceptively cunning, her even voice not matching her body language. "But I want to hear you say it," she said to him, looking down at him, eyes wild, muscles wound tight, waiting for his reply.

Eyes half-lidded, lips parted, tongue darting out to lick his lips again, Archer obliged, speaking in a rasping tone as he pulled her down to him, "Fucking hell. Rin. I want you so _fucking bad. _I _need_ you. I need to _feel _you. To _hear_ you." His voice got more strained with each statement. He pushed up into her as he pulled her down to him, feeling her tight warmth envelop his aching cock. He growled and groaned, feeling her squirm down on him, her helpless-sounding cries filling the room while he pulled at her. He kept talking after she seated fully on him, his breath now coming near-ragged with the effort. "I want you to ride me. Use me. _Fuck me, Rin,_" he growled, all of his lust and all of the heat in him shown in his demands.

Rin's expression matched Archer's, her eyelids heavy, mouth slightly open, her breath coming in soft, panting puffs. He'd pulled her down to make his demands against her ear, his breath hot on her skin. er fingernails dug into his shoulders, earning her another groan from Archer, his hips bucking at the sensation, making her cry out. His every word lit a new fire in her, each small flame building to an inferno inside her. She squirmed against him, wanting desperately to answer his words with her own, but pathetically only able to get out unintelligible moans. She wanted _everything_ he said. Her body reacted on its own, her hips rolling against his, big, slow circles, a wave of movement, grinding against him, making his cock within her shunting against her walls.

Archer sighed, a low, appreciative sound, encouraging her, following her lead. His range of motion was limited compared to hers, so he pressed up with his hips in time with her rolling ones, driving him deeper, feeling her heat squeezing and milking him. He looked up to watch her, his jaw now completely slack, his breath speeding up from what he saw.

Rin had pushed herself up again, holding herself by Archer's shoulders, while Archer's hands had moved to hold her hips. Her eyes struggled to stay open, the torrent of pleasure making her eyes roll back more than once. Her mouth hung open, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, any pretense of propriety and teasing play completely gone. This angle made his cock drag along her G-spot from the inside, while her clit ground against his pelvis from the outside. She felt her thighs begin to tense, a hot coil in her abdomen begin to tighten. Her fingertips gripped harder to Archer's shoulders. She forced herself to look down at him, wanting to see his reactions, too.

Archer bowed his head, still staring at her from under his brow. His grip on her hips shifted with their movements, pushing and pulling her to him. Their pace was quickly approaching fever pitch. Despite his best efforts, his eyelids fluttered shut as his eyes rolled back in his head, the sensations beginning to overload him. He rested his forehead to her chest, openly panting, his movements becoming more erratic.

Rin felt him bow his head to her chest, and she responded by leaning her head up, pressing her chest out towards him. Her panting became outright screaming, chanting his name like a mantra. She had held onto the edge of orgasm, kept herself on the edge, her mouth hanging open in such a way she was sure one could see clear through to the bottom of her lungs. She felt Archer's movements shift, felt his cock growing ever-harder inside of her. He was about to cum, and she wanted to go over the edge with him.

Archer's grip had shifted to hold the bottom of Rin's ass, lifting her up only to let gravity drive her back down onto him. Her open screaming, his name on her lips, her quaking body told him everything he needed to know. Blinded to everything else in the room, Archer drove himself into her, meeting her with every thrust, slamming into her. He lost all control of himself that instant, joining her chorus of outcries and adding his own, a louder, longer groan tearing free from his throat as he came,, his entire body shuddering and grinding, helpless in the throes of orgasm.

Rin focused on the sensations Archer caused with his grip, with his pushing and pulling, with his grinding into her. Everything was a blur. She heard his groan and gasped, that one last thing to push her ever-higher, before she ground down against his pubic bone, giving her just the push she needed to cum, in nearly-perfect synchronicity with Archer.

She held tightly to Archer, convulsing and crying out, her desperate pleasure overtaking her senses. Her entire body felt as though she combusted, the crest of her climax driving yet more pleasure through her overloaded system.

Long after Archer had finished cumming, Rin still writhed against him, whimpering pitifully as she rode out aftershock after aftershock, powerless to stop herself. Archer weathered the storm with her, holding her tightly, letting her ride out her orgasm. He gasped and shuddered as a second, much smaller spurt issued from him, sending his oversensitive cock into more pulses, forcing him to clutch tightly to Rin, as though his body begged her to stop squirming against his. He shook under her, then finally, relief flooded him as Rin began to relax in his hold.

"Holy shit," Rin gasped, still breathless. She'd collapsed on top of Archer, all the strength having left her arms to hold herself up.

Archer chuckled, but nodded in agreement, his breath still ragged, as well. After a moment of regaining his senses, Archer moved to lie down on the couch, pulling Rin along with him. For once, he allowed himself to warm in the afterglow of their coupling.

Rin went willingly with Archer, surprised at how comfortable it was to rest on him. She even allowed herself to enjoy being close to him in this way. It was comfortable, more than just physically. She felt his palm smoothing down her long, black hair. Normally, she would have gotten up without saying anything. Normally, she wouldn't put up much with that sort of affection.

But this once, she let it happen.

She began to drift to sleep, thoroughly satisfied, and even, maybe, for once in her life, _happy._

She'd forgotten entirely that he hadn't even acknowledged the news about Saber.


	6. Insomnianal

London was becoming Rin's home, slowly but surely, as her research at the clock tower yielded results. In her few years as a mage apprentice and researcher, Rin had found new and interesting ways to utilize her magic abilities, improve the efficiency of her mana usage, and push the limits of her mana pool.

This was especially exciting, since she was able to replicate her findings using Shirou as a guinea pig.

"Ow! Tohsaka, knock it off!" Shirou tried to push Rin away, but she was insistent, pulling his arm, wrenching his limbs, studying the magic circuits in his body in ways that would make an unfamiliar mage blush.

Rin had poked and prodded and examined and studied Shirou extensively. His magic circuits had been part of him since before they were involved in each other's lives, but Archer had given him a jump start during the Holy Grail War. It hadn't occurred to her to study him as a control for her research until she had spent some time with Archer, improving her own abilities for strengthening objects.

She pitied the construction equipment that would ever try to bring that building down.

The more she'd pulled at that thread, the clearer it became the kinds of questions she needed to ask. What had happened to Shirou was a lot like a mana transfer, but without the necessary intimacy. More than once, she caught herself daydreaming of how that could have gone, and couldn't honestly decide if she was repelled by the idea or intrigued. Even now, seeing Shirou glower at her with a minor pout at her rough handling of him made her imagine briefly a scenario where he and Archer would...

"Hey, what's that look for?" Shirou started to turn away from Rin, appearing put off by the look on her face. She refocused, blinked away the haze in her eyes, and smiled sweetly.

"I was just thinking about mana transfers," she said plainly.

Shirou hesitated, then blushed furiously, ducking his head and avoiding eye contact. He grumbled angrily, "I already feel like a piece of meat, here. You don't have to make it worse."

Rin grinned with sadistic glee. "Worse? Or better?" She leered at him to make him more uncomfortable, which worked like a charm. Emiya had his lines he wouldn't cross, and she lived for stepping right over them.

"Worse!" He snapped, glaring at her again. "Why do you have to use me like this, anyway? There are tons of mages here." He shifted uncomfortably.

Rin sighed, exasperated. "Because, Shirou, you are an anomaly. You are, from what I can tell, a mage that was born with magic circuits. Your biological family didn't have them, from what you understand, and your foster father, Kiritsugu taught you basic strengthening techniques." She gestured, as though performing a lecture. "Near as either of us can tell, you're a first-generation mage." She pointed at him. "That makes you the first of your line. Your magic ability is, by definition, weak."

Shirou snorted at that, rolled his eyes. "Fat lot of good that does me," he grumbled, adding, "Thanks for that exposition, by the way."

"As a weak mage," she steamrolled over him, "you're ideal for the purposes of my research. My goal is to strengthen existing mages." She pulled back her sleeve to reveal her family crest on her forearm. "You know this is the collective power of the Tohsaka line," she explained. "What you seem to forget is that, while I have decent power in my own right, much of my ability and mana reserve come from this." She covered her arm again. "But if I can find a way to power up, say, a weakling mage to be a passable apprentice, now, see, that," she shook her finger at him, "that would be a game-changer. That would upset the entire hierarchy."

Shirou sighed. He knew what he was getting into when he asked Rin why he had to be part of her research. Still, while she was talking, she was not pushing him around. It was a welcome respite, if a chattering one.

"... and there are a lot of mage families that would be furious if they found out little mages could power up and become slightly bigger mages." She had been rambling on, excited by the implications of her findings. "But that's why I keep this largely under wraps. And also," she nudged his shoulder, "why I need you to be part of it." She waited for him to look up at her, then she smiled. "I can trust you won't go to the Mage's Association and rat me out."

Shirou sighed. "Do you even have to ask?" He gestured, only to have his hand snatched out of mid-air as if he was offering it, and before he knew it, she was back to studying him.

* * *

Sleep had been elusive that night for Rin. She'd drift off, nearly make it to sleep, then a stray thought would invade her mind and she'd find herself working through problems instead of trying to sleep. Behind her laid Archer, his breathing even and shallow. He hadn't gone to sleep yet, either. She'd long since started sleeping naked. Too many of her outfits were torn to shreds in fits of passion between her and Archer, and if she was completely honest with herself, sleeping this way was more comfortable, anyway.

But her mind would not quiet. Even though her body was tired and craved rest, she couldn't make herself fall asleep. Her research today had been promising, and leaving so many questions to answer for another day always gave Rin a bad case of insomnia. Try as she might, her force of will worked against her today, so she fidgeted. She tugged at the blanket, folding the edge of it under her body to seal in the warmth. She scooted back just enough to feel Archer's arm against her back. He was always so warm. Feeling the blade of his forearm against her spine was oddly comforting for her. A reminder he was there.

Moments passed, and Rin began to drift again. Sleep teased at the edges of her consciousness. She felt like she _could_ fall asleep, if only her brain could turn off for a damn second. Before long, she had resigned herself to simply rest overnight instead of getting any real sleep. It wasn't ideal, but the alternative would be to get out of bed, and that would guarantee no sleep nor rest for that night. She needed to be sharp the next day, so that was out of the question.

She sighed softly and peeked at the bedside clock. 1:48 AM. The time taunted her. She rubbed the side of her face into the pillow in silent frustration.

The blanket rustled behind her and she felt air rushing as Archer moved in close, resting his hand on Rin's hip. He gave a gentle squeeze and kissed her shoulder, as though he could sense that she was awake. _Or he's gotten bold, and possibly has a creepy kink,_ she thought fuzzily, deciding if that were the case, she probably wouldn't mind. Warmth surrounded her when she felt him curl up behind her, conforming his body to hers. Rin closed her eyes and nestled back into Archer. She expected his arm to slide the rest of the way around her, but his hand stayed anchored on her hip, his fingers pressing to the hollow of it.

Rin held her breath for a second, listening. Archer gently rocked her hip back and forth, resting again once his cock rested against the cleft of her butt. A pleasant hum washed over her, a hum that she expressed, her small, tired voice expressing wordless contentment.

But Archer didn't hear the contentment Rin expressed. What he heard was a hum of appreciation. Slowly, Archer traced a line with the pads of his fingers up and down Rin's side. If she really was asleep, he'd leave her alone. However, if he knew Rin, she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight unless she focused her manic brain. He felt her shift, the slightest nudging of her backside up against his lap confirming his suspicions. He rested his broad palm against her waist, just above the flare of her hip.

His touch didn't calm Rin as much as his presence had. Once his fingertips started exploring her skin, she stirred, nerves awaken in response. A mild wave of electricity pulsed through her, the familiar tingle of the beginnings of a mana transfer. The sensation was naturally more intense than a non-mage would feel, given the mix of hormones and mana both coursing through her veins complemented each other. He barely touched her, and now she melted in his hold. She sighed and turned her head a little more into the pillow. Her hand clutched at the pillow case, and she focused on what he did, and how he felt pressed against her.

Archer's breath gave him away. His hand resumed its trailing over Rin's skin. Her sigh was likely breathier than she'd meant for it to be, and he smirked privately. He bent his head down and rested his lips against Rin's shoulder. He listened to her respond to his touch. His hand moved down her side, over her hip and thigh, then up the back of her leg, lingering at the crease just under her ass, dragging his fingers more slowly, so when he finally moved on, her cheeks spread a little for him, letting him nestle his cock even further between them, then letting go and feeling the slight bounce and pressure. He sighed and nudged against her, unable to help himself. His arousal began to grow, and Rin was making all the right sounds, reacting to his touch by moving for the best pressure between her skin and his fingers.

Rin whimpered quietly when she felt Archer pull at her ass. He was soft at first, but feeling his cock begin to harden while trapped between her butt cheeks gave her a tremendous thrill. Every few seconds, she also felt his tongue tip pressed to her shoulder, his warm breath soft against her bare skin. She waited patiently for his hand ro drop down past her waist again, and she reached up and behind her, turned her head so she could kiss him. Her fingernails scratched at his scalp gently. Archer responded with a gentle, almost tender kiss of his own. Rin's mind was fuzzy. This new care was slightly off-putting for Rin. She wouldn't waste much time thinking on why, because Archer's clever fingers found their way to her nipples and had given them a tweak. She protested, her grumble muffled against Archer's mouth, which she felt tighten, his lips curling up into a smirk.

Before Rin could rebuke Archer for ruining a kiss before it could get heated, he flashed her that damnable sly grin. He rested his head on the pillow behind Rin and groaned, a low, slow sounds that ended in a hot sigh. He ground against Rin with more intent, his cock pressing against Rin, sliding along her folds. Rin's expression slackened, which Archer saw before she could lie her head back down, facing away from him. She arched her back to press her butt more firmly against him, giving him much more friction and much better access. Archer grunted when he felt his tip press directly against Rin's asshole. Rin stiffened, but the _sound _she made had Archer's blood running hot. It was a strange mix of surprise, confusion, protest, pleasure, and panic. But she didn't move away. She in fact stilled, and Archer responded in kind, pressed firmly to Rin, his cock now throbbing. A need to press into Rin right then threatened to overtake Archer. Long, torturous seconds passed, neither one of them moving, the only sound between them their increased breaths.

But, anal isn't something she wants. At least, it was on her taboo list.

To his surprise, Rin began to rock against him, gentle, barely-noticeable motions in her body unclear at first. He inhaled sharply when her tight ring pressed and slid over his tip, as if trying to take him in. Rin made tiny noises each time she pressed against him, a sound he recognized as pleasurable whimpers. He clenched his jaw, a slight sweat bead having formed on his temple.

"Rin," he spoke, his voice just above a whisper. She heard a warning in his voice, but also detected worry. Her face warmed when she heard it. He was concerned? Why? How? _Ah. That's right,_ she recalled, _I told him this was a line not to cross._ Somehow, the sensation hit her differently today than it had in the past. When he would slip up in the past, she felt pinching, dragging, wholly unpleasant sensations. Somehow, today, he was hitting her just right, and a new pleasure started to awaken. A new anticipation.

"Yes," she answered his unasked question. Their mental link gave her the message loud and clear, and she answered unambiguously, her voice soft, needy, and decisive. "Yes."

Archer's jaw worked, his teeth grinding as a blinding heat began to spread through him. He had to be sure. _She_ had to be sure. He curled possessively around her, the hand that had been exploring her skin coming up to rest delicately on her chin. His breath was hot on her ear as he spoke. "Yes, what?" He nipped at the edge of her ear. "What do you want from me?" He wanted to hear her confirmation. But that didn't mean he wouldn't be playful about it. The time to be clinical about this long since passed. She had become more comfortable communicating with him when something wasn't pleasurable or enjoyable to her. This would be no different.

He felt smugness well up inside when he saw the tips of Rin's ears burning a bright red. It was a flush of embarrassment, which was a rare treat these days. He supposed, 'Grease me up, my lord and master' was probably not going to come out of her mouth any time soon. He felt her tense while deciding what to say. To help her make up her mind, he rubbed himself against her some more, then started to move away, reading her body language and responses. Every time he pulled away, she would push back against him, as though expecting him to tease her some more with his cock. This _was_ breaking taboo for her, so he let her take her time, his hand resuming its journey over Rin's breasts and thighs, his lips and teeth grazing the skin of her neck and shoulder.

Gradually, their actions and reactions to each other brought Archer to press the tip of his cock into her. There, he froze again, felt her jerk in his hold like a startled cat that hadn't yet decided to flee. Here, held at her precipice, Archer was at his weakest. This new sensation, this virgin hole held him just at bay, his cock throbbing hard in a reflexive attempt to press further into Rin. _Fuck,_ he wanted to keep going. Their slow pace had eased her muscles enough to let him through, but he didn't know how she was feeling, if it was painful.

Rin felt a thin sheen of sweat cover her skin as a wave of heat assaulted her. This pleasurable feeling was so different than the other times they fucked. Even with just the tip of him in her, she noticed she even _breathed _differently, her breath coming in rapid, shallow pants. She was grateful he paused then. While this part was pleasant, she was unsure how she would feel if he continued. But if it felt like _this,_ then she wanted to keep going. She gently pressed back against him, then spoke as evenly as she could manage between breaths. "I want to try it."

Archer swallowed, his brow furrowed when he felt her press against him again. He anchored his hand on her hip and asked, "Want to try what?"

She knew what he was doing and why. Still, she wasn't thrilled with the idea of saying the words out loud. She thought her body language and insistence would cover that. But no, he had to be _considerate_ today. Big jerk. She pouts to herself, her ears reddening further and eyes squeezing shut. She whined as the words were dragged out of her. "I want you to fuck me in the ass tonight, Archer," she said, the mix of need and annoyance clear in her voice.

Archer's throat constricted at her words. She really _did_ want this. The sound of her voice, the whimpering breaths she took, the damn pressing she was doing against him threatened to break him. The smugness he felt before overflowed, and he couldn't help but chuckle and answer, "As my master wishes."

Rin's eyes cracked open, her face flushed deep red. The timbre of his voice flooded her with delight. She felt him shift, and went along with him as he laid her onto her belly, her arms crossed in front of her to rest her head. He moved to lie on her, his chest pressed to her back, his cock nestled firmly in the crack of her ass. Instead of immediately pushing into her, he decided to go a little slower, rubbing his length along her cleft. Rin sighed pleasantly, the weight of him pressing her to the mattress. She arched her butt up against him in time with his movements, offering the occasional breathy moan or needy sigh.

Archer felt himself smirk, letting Rin become more and more frustrated that he was teasing her. He shifted again, reached down and held his cock at her hole, resting the tip against her ring again. She stilled then, her hips tilted up to meet him, as spread as she could get without reaching back and pulling herself open. She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes half-lidded, her lips puffed from prolonged arousal. She was met with his watchful stare, his brow set in a line. Seeing her look at him like this always gives Archer an ego boost and an adrenaline rush. He allowed himself to give his sly grin, the one he knew she liked, before he spoke. "Ready?"

Rin nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The sound from the back of her throat was an affirmation, if a strangled one.

"Try and relax," he advised her, giving her a moment before he started the gentle, nudging strokes, effectively massaging her hole with the tip of his cock. Rin did as directed, laid her head down and let her eyes flutter shut. New bursts of electricity shot through her body at the sensations he caused, and her moans and whimpers came more easily, and more high-pitched than when he would slide into her cunt.

Archer, for his part, both busied himself and distracted Rin from any discomfort she may be feeling by squeezing her hip and laving his tongue over the edge of her ear and the back and side of her neck. One hand touched the secret places he knew she liked, ghosting over her ribs, curling up the side of her thigh, the other hand balancing him on his elbow so he wouldn't crush the air out of her.

Eventually, he felt his tip press past her ring once more, and she jerked under him again, squeaking in protest. She tensed and he paused, giving her the opportunity to get used to the feeling of him inside of her like this. If she wanted to stop here, she could. She knew that. Archer had proven himself a most responsive and respectful partner. She trusted him.

Obviously. She was letting him put his dick in her ass. Doesn't get a whole lot more trusting than that. At least, that's what she believes.

She started to relax, acclimating to his presence inside of her. "Are you all right?" Archer asked, his voice somewhat rough, but controlled. He felt Rin nod. He nipped at her shoulder and chuckled. "Should we keep going?"

Rin shuddered under him. She worried about that pinching and tearing that could happen. Still, none of that was happening now. She pressed against him to answer his question, feeling herself stretch around him. Archer took in a sharp breath and cursed under his breath, holding steady against her. He let her control how far he went this time. Getting the tip in was the first step, but it was the easy part, especially since they were not working with any form of synthetic lube. He bowed his head against her back, a deep, slow breath released from him as he felt her ass pull him in, centimeter by centimeter. His hearing was dulled, but he heard Rin's cries, soft though they were. They managed to get him halfway inside of her before she needed a break.

She panted openly, the incredibly feminine, high-pitched sounds coming from her throat sounding alien to her. She hadn't yet felt anything more unpleasant than the initial discomfort. There was no pulling, no pinching, no tearing. She relaxed for a moment, knowing she hadn't taken him all in yet.

Archer's breath had picked up, too, the very texture he was feeling around his cock giving him sensations that were different from their usual play time. The tightness with which she gripped him was also different, her sphincter clamping down on him much harder than her cunt could. Every single nerve in his body demanded that he push into her now that she's relaxed. What was left of his rational brain held on, and instead of pushing forward, he pulled back slightly, then pushed back in, massaging the inside of her, both relaxing her muscles further, and satisfying _some of_ his desire, minor though his movements were, never delving deeper than when she had stopped.

Rin cried out and writhed under him. The lewdness with which she expressed herself was nothing short of pornographic, and she could not stop herself. This new feeling sparked inside of her something she hadn't known before, and it thrilled her to her very core. Adrenaline burst through her system, heightening her senses and her appetite. After a moment, she responded to him in kind, pressing back against him when he would push against her. Their strokes became longer, and before long, Rin yelped when he slipped further into her depths, crossing the line they'd stopped at before.

Archer steadied himself. He rolled his body against hers in fluid, controlled movements, each stroke bringing him just a little further into her until he was pressed flush to her, buried within her. Once he felt that, he paused his movements, leaning down again and placing an open-mouthed kiss to her shoulder. "How do you feel?" He asked, less from concern at this point and more from curiosity.

"Hnngh," Rin managed as she licked her lips. Her fingernails scratched against the sheets. As he had paused, she gained her faculties again for a brief moment. "It's so _good,_" she declared, surprised by her own revelation. She whimpered into the crook of her elbow when she felt him pulse inside of her in reply.

He hummed his approval. He drew himself back slowly, then just as slowly pushed himself back in, keeping an even pace. If Rin wanted anything besides a slow, gentle ass fuck, then she'd have to tell him through actions or words. Even like this, however, he'd be content to make this last, the feeling of her ring clenching at him when he moved making his eyes close in concentration.

Rin struggled under him, the anxiety showing itself again when he began to move. What if it hurt? What if something came out? What if, what if, what if...

But her fears were laid to rest when he pushed back into her, and though the pressure was slightly uncomfortable, she grew accustomed to it rapidly, that discomfort morphing to pleasure after a handful of strokes. The room filled with a symphony of her moans and cries, marking her pleasure quite clearly. She began to meet him stroke for stroke, more insistent, more aggressive, trying to get him to go harder or faster.

Archer growled deep in his chest. He pulled her against his chest and rolled over onto his back without slipping out of her. She lie on her back against his chest, and now, his hands were free to touch her all over. Without any teasing or preamble, Archer's finger pads slid over her slit. She was drenched with desire. He rested his palm against her mound, his digits sinking into her cunt, curling the digits harshly within her and using that grip to pull in time with his thrusts into her ass. His other hand found her breast and held onto that, too, her nipple rolling between his knuckles when he squeezed.

Rin shrieked from the onslaught, completely at Archer's mercy at this point. She found a grip on his arms, moving as best as she could in time with him, overwhelmed by all of the sensations. Her moans turned to screams, his harsh treatment of her cunt heightening her pleasure. His palm scraped against her clit, driving her wild.

Archer panted roughly. Both of them abandoned gentleness and caution, thrashing against each other with violent abandon. His voice was ragged, but somehow still authoritative, praising Rin. "Good girl," he murmured to her between breaths, though he was positive she wasn't even listening to him anymore. He recognized where she was. She just needed a little extra push.

Rin's legs tensed and she bucked hard against Archer. He'd bitten down on her shoulder, drawing out that final bit of shock from her, sending her into a loud and violent tirade of an orgasm. Her body twisted and wrenched in his hold while he continued his brutal assault. His groans were muffled against Rin's flesh. The middle of her outburst brought Archer to his end, and he released her shoulder, audibly and raggedly panting, then moaning, a short, deep sound that Rin rarely got to hear from him. He clutched her tightly to him as his own body tensed, spasmed, and shook when he came.

Their euphoria covered them both like a warm blanket, their bodies slowly relaxing from their activity. Rin wouldn't move off of Archer, even after a moment had passed. He moved his hands so that he could wrap his arms around her, in another display of care Rin was unaccustomed to. She wanted to doze, but was clearly worried about something. Archer picked up on it when she began to shake, as though exerting effort while trying to hide that she was exerting effort. "Hmm?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

Rin fidgeted. "Um... so, what now?" she asked. "How does this work? How do we clean up after this?"

Archer chuckled. She was worried about _that._ Okay. "Easy. You get up the nerve to tell me you're worried about debris, then I tell you it's not a big deal, then we both go into the wash room and clean up. Good? Good."

Rin was bewildered. It was really that simple? "Okay," she said cautiously. She allowed herself to separate from Archer, and to her horror, the instant she uncoupled from him, she broke wind.

An excruciating silence fell between them, followed by Archer's raucous laughter.

"Are you kidding me!?" Rin swatted at Archer, her deep red blush coloring her from head to toe. She glared at him, which did ease his giggling.

He grinned at her. "That's to be expected, too. I forgot to tell you that. Sorry."

Her glare soured even further. She pouted a little bit. "You didn't have to laugh at me," she huffed, wounded.

Archer shrugged. "Farts are funny." He sat up and ran his fingers up and down her back. "Really, it's okay. See? Hardly any mess." He gestured between them, the only real 'debris' was the sticky cum that leaked onto him when she moved. "But, tell me. Besides that last bit. Did you enjoy that?"

Rin scoffed at his question. She knew he wanted to know, and this wasn't one of his distraction questions. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side, looking away from him. "It was fun, I guess," she said, playing the part of petulance well.

Archer smirked at her. "You _guess,_ huh? Hmm," he looked her over, "I am trying to recall the last time you came that hard, Rin," he said her name with extra suggestion, punctuating his statement by licking his lips when she looked over.

Rin narrowed her eyes at him, then looked away from him again, pointedly ignoring his look instead of giving in to his bait. "Well, you have a point there," she tossed over her shoulder as she turned to go wash up. "I'm going to shower. You can go _after _me. You don't get to watch me clean my ass after that," she declared.

Archer traded scowls with her, but relented. "I could just use the sink and a wash cloth," he offered.

"Fine," she agreed. "No peeking!"

"All right, all right," he waved her off.

Rin's sleep after that was deep, undisturbed, and satisfying.


End file.
